St. George, Utah
The other day we toured around Hoover Dam and walked across the new Hoover bypass bridge.
Hoover Dam
We actually didn’t do the tour because we had done that many years ago when our kids were younger at one of Melissa’s softball tournaments.
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives.
It’s mind boggling to think that it was built in five years!
The white ring is a high-water mark called a “bathtub ring” shows the original shoreline of Lake Mead. The bathtub ring is white because of the deposition of minerals on previously submerged surfaces.
Lake Mead is distressingly low. It reaches its last peak in 1998 at an elevation of 1215.76. Top capacity is 1299. Currently it is at 1,112. On July 11, 2014, it reached its lowest elevation since the dam was constructed at 1,081.77.
The contrast of the bathtub ring against the red and brown rock is stunning.
The picture below is for one of the spillways. It’s huge when compared to the fifth wheel travel trailer parked nearby.
Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
Opened in 2010, it was the key component of the Hoover Dam Bypass project, which rerouted US 93 from its previous routing along the top of Hoover Dam and removed several hairpin turns and blind curves from the route. It is jointly named for Mike O’Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971–1979, and Pat Tillman, an American football player who left his career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was later killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire.
The bridge is a stunning engineering feat. Here it is as seen from Hoover Dam.
Pedestrians can walk across the bridge. Here’s the state line dividing Nevada and Arizona.
And here is the Apex of the Arch point on the bridge.
When we walked to the end, Rich noticed how much the bridge expands and contracts, indicated by two marks. Look at the top railing near the middle and you’ll see about a four inch black spot. That’s where it’s rubbing against itself. You can see a similar mark on the bottom joint.
Cool! And just how did it feel being back in Nevada?
Actually it felt like coming home a bit, Carol. I was surprised at how different it felt from being in the Phoenix area. Must have been all those bright casino lights! 🙂
That was an incredible engineering feat! I did not know how much it expanded and contracted. And, here’s hoping that the bathtub ring starts disappearing soon!
Joanne, it was a bit unnerving at how much it shook as big semis drove over it. And it was strange to think how congested the old two-lane road was before the by-pass was built.