BC Council hears of dam bypass choice

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000 | 11:03 a.m.

The Federal Highway Administration expects in January to name Sugarloaf Mountain as the preferred bridge route to span the Colorado River and alleviate the snarl of tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. 93 along the Hoover Dam.

F. Dave Zanatell, project director for the bypass, told the Boulder City Council Tuesday that the proposed $198 million route has been determined by federal engineers as the least expensive of four alternatives and would pose a minimal environmental impact.

Zanatell did not address the religious significance of Sugarloaf Mountain to local Indians. The mountain is considered sacred by Southwest tribes.

The Sugarloaf route would build a 1,900-foot steel deck span just a quarter-mile downstream from the Hoover Dam. The bridge would arch 250 feet higher than the dam.

Engineers plan to start construction in 2002 and to open the bypass by 2007.

U.S. 93, which was first identified by federal highway administrators as a traffic concern in 1965, serves as the main thoroughfare between Las Vegas and Kingman, Ariz.

The 3.5-mile stretch of hard switchbacks leading down to the tourist-packed dam and back up into the surrounding hills has three times the number of accidents of similar Nevada roads, Zanatell said.

Of the 11,500 vehicles that cross the Colorado River at the Hoover Dam each day, about 18 percent are trucks, Zanatell said. By 2007 administrators predict a 30-minute delay in traffic for three hours each day. By 2027 that delay is expected to last 10 hours daily if changes are not made.

Councilman Bryan Nix expressed concern for the economic and environmental impact of the bypass on Boulder City. He suggested more study closing the dam to truck traffic and forcing the traffic to use U.S. 95 through Laughlin and Bullhead City.