Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge

vegasrocks · #1 10-15-2010, 12:56 AM

The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is all set to open after almost eight years of construction.

This new bridge will make travel between Las Vegas and Phoenix much easier. People will no longer have to go across the dam and all of it's winding roads at slow paces nor will they have to deal with the checkpoints.

The bridge and road is four lanes. It should cut travel time by at least thirty minutes.

This bridge is actually the longest bridge built with concrete arches in the western hemisphere.

This bridge is named and dedicated after former Nevada Gov. Mike O'Callaghan and Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who quit the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers and died under friendly fire in Afghanistan.

The Mike O'Callaghan Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge will officially open next week.

IluvVegas · #2 10-15-2010, 04:51 AM

Well dang, the Hoover Dam is one place I never got to go to in all my travels here in the US. Now they have a new bridge.

Any idea if the Hoover Dam will still be open to visitors or will the road to it be closed period? It would be interesting to know this in case I make another trip out West.

VegasLuvsMe · #3 10-15-2010, 02:43 PM

My wife and I watched a short documentary on the Hoover Dam and they're making plans to expand it or make a newer and larger Hoover Dam.

They plan on making it much higher and update a lot of the components, including the overflow pipes to help in generating electricity.
They're main concern is to use less of the filtration system that's needed to run the water through the turbines that create electricity, so the ecosystem downstream will go back to normal.
Much of the sediment that is filtered out before the turbines is needed for the natural things that live downstream from the dam.

One thing I find hard to understand, is how they're gonna get more water into Lake Mead when it's at a low level now.

The new bypass bridge does help the truckers save a lot of time too, and that's a good thing.
They use to have to travel an extra 23 miles to bypass the Hoover Dam, and now they don't