Personal tools
You are here: home   Blogs   The GOAT Blog   A dam marvel
Log in


Forgot your password?
New user?
 
The GOAT Blog

A dam marvel

Document Actions
Tip Jar Donation

Your donation supports independent non-profit journalism from High Country News.

Enter amount:

$
Ariana Brocious | Jul 17, 2009 04:30 PM

hoover dam bridge

Hundreds of feet above the Black Canyon's raging Colorado River, the longest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere is almost complete. In a month workers will finish construction on the arch support of the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge, open to the public in fall 2010.

The new 4-lane bridge, on Highway 93, will replace the busy road on Hoover Dam, alleviating bottle-neck traffic and high accident rates by providing a safer route from Phoenix to Las Vegas and allowing truckers to return to a major NAFTA traffic route.

The Arizona Republic calls the project an "epic marvel," given the difficulty of building on faces of sheer rock and project challenges of drastic weather, accidents and one worker fatality.

When the bridge is complete, it will be the third-highest bridge deck in the country. How's that for modern marvels?

See more photos of the bridge construction here.

Document Actions
Log in to comment (3)
but will there be a bike path?
undead Abbey
undead Abbey
Jul 21, 2009 05:11 PM
Unfortunately, this road will not reduce accidents and deaths for the local residents. The bridge merely bypasses the curvy dangerous roads immediately adjacent to the dam, and vomits the traffic out onto the highway near Lake Mead National Park and through Boulder City.
huh?
Eric Davila
Eric Davila
Jul 22, 2009 01:38 PM
I don't understand how this "will not reduce accidents and deaths for the local residents"...

I mean, pulling the highway 93 traffic off the small roads will make them more safe, even if they are still windy, narrow, etc. Less thru-traffic yokels to run into, right?
Huh?
Undead Abbey
Undead Abbey
Jul 23, 2009 11:37 AM
This will not reduce accidents, as the Truck traffic that was routed south through Laughlin and up 93 to come out on the road west of town will now come through Boulder City once again. All the bridge does is cut out the Dam section of road, there is no new route south of town. Accidents on the approaches to the dam were low, because speeds were low due to the extreme curves on the road. This bridge was constructed to keep Large trucks off the dam, and for no other purpose. Thru traffic yokels, as you so kindly refer to them, will increase.
 

Email Newsletter

The West in your Inbox

Follow Us

Follow us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Follow our RSS feeds!
Comments Most Commented Most Emailed
  1. Fearful of Agenda 21, an alleged U.N. plot, activists derail land-use planning | A two-year planning process in La Plata County, Co...
  2. Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote | In Salt Lake City and other Western communities, b...
  3. The logging town of Darrington, Wash., fights to save a fire lookout | A lawsuit raises questions about how far environme...
  4. Feeding the deer | A rural Californian doesn't apologize for feeding ...
  5. Residents of Montana's High Plains are angry - but not at the real threats | Though climate change and the economy are the issu...
  1. Fearful of Agenda 21, an alleged U.N. plot, activists derail land-use planning | A two-year planning process in La Plata County, Co...
  2. Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote | In Salt Lake City and other Western communities, b...
  3. The logging town of Darrington, Wash., fights to save a fire lookout | A lawsuit raises questions about how far environme...
  4. Residents of Montana's High Plains are angry - but not at the real threats | Though climate change and the economy are the issu...
  5. Picking ranchers' brains, from Colorado to Mongolia | Colorado State University professor Maria Fernande...
More from Growth & Planning
Fearful of Agenda 21, an alleged U.N. plot, activists derail land-use planning A two-year planning process in La Plata County, Colorado gets hijacked by activists suspicious of United Nations influence. And in the West and nationwide, they're not alone.
Billboard corporations use money and influence to override your vote In Salt Lake City and other Western communities, billboard companies battle local democracy by fighting attempts to regulate the giant signs.
Billboard corporations and other big industries make their own rules Burning down billboards isn't a good idea, but can a citizen fight the corporate power behind the big signs?
All Growth & Planning

Most recent from the blogs

More Most recent from the blogs
 
© 2012 High Country News, all rights reserved. | privacy policy | terms of use | powered by Plone | site by Groundwire | design by Ryan Foster

HCN Logo High Country News in your inbox!


Sign up now to receive our weekly email newsletter!

- The best weekly collection of Western environmental news

- An at-a-glance look at our latest news and analysis