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Courtesy Federal Highway Administration
A computer rendering of the completed bridge against the Hoover Dam.
Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 | 1:50 a.m.
Bridging The Gap
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The Federal Highway Administration on July 31, 2009, updates the process and upcoming milestones of the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge project.
Sun archive
- Proposed Interstate 11 (7-11-09)
- Hoover Dam bypass bridge yields new approach for big rigs (6-15-2009)
- New bridge may require more emergency services (5-22-2009)
- Worker dies at Hoover Dam bypass bridge project (11-25-2008)
Hoover Dam bypass bridge
Related links
Sun coverage
Less than a mile downstream from one of the nation's best-known engineering marvels, the Hoover Dam, a second is taking shape.
A soaring 1,900-foot span across the gorge created by the Colorado River on the Arizona-Nevada border should be completed this fall, eliminating much of a sometimes hourlong bottleneck as traffic creeps over the dam on the key route between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
When it is scheduled to open in November, motorists will cross the longest bridge of its kind in the western hemisphere, with towering concrete columns that rise above a twin rib arch beneath them.
"It's pretty spectacular," said Sidney Spears, a 68-year-old retired truck driver from South Dakota, sitting at the dam and admiring the bridge 1,500 feet away. "This day and age, they are only limited by their imagination."
Construction began on the $240 million project nearly five years ago and has caught the eyes of many, like Spears, who have driven over the dam for decades.
Visitors to the dam will be able to see the bridge, but the sheer height of the bridge — 900 feet above the river — won't allow motorists traveling across the span to see the dam. A walkway on the north side of the bridge will give pedestrians a view of both.
Access to the dam also will change with the opening of the bridge.
Tourists no longer will be able to get to it from the Arizona side, instead having to cross the bridge and backtrack, said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Bob Walsh. A checkpoint put in place the afternoon of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks will remain on the Nevada side, he said.
The new bridge won't have any such checkpoints, and semi-truck drivers who once had to reroute through Laughlin, Nev., a 30-mile detour, will be able to drive over it.
When crane operator Kevin Raines first heard that a new bridge would bypass the roadway over the dam that his late boss helped build in the 1930s, he said, "I want to be part of it, it's historical," recalled the 56-year-old from southern Utah.
For about eight months, Raines teetered on the edge of a steep canyon in his crane, high above the river carrying 20-ton boulders excavated from the canyon walls and the miners who were hired to blast them out. The work was to help support the arches for the bridge.
"It was a real unique one-of-a-kind type job," said Raines, who has helped build 36 casinos and high-rise buildings in Las Vegas. "Not many people get that chance."
The projected opening had been late 2007, but work was suspended at least twice when two 280-foot-tall steel construction cranes collapsed amid high winds in 2006 and a worker died in 2008. Nevada's workplace safety agency investigated the death but determined it was an accident and the contractor, a joint venture of Obayashi Corporation and PSM Construction USA, Inc., wasn't cited.
Arizona's job safety agency has cited the contractor about a dozen times since August 2008 for what the agency's state director Darin Perkins said were minor issues — not inspecting cranes daily before use, lack of handrails or handrails being at the wrong height, for example.
Project director Ken Hirschmugl and project manager Dave Zanetell of the Federal Highway Administration said safety has remained a top priority for workers. More than 1 million work hours have been logged, Hirschmugl said.
Before the project began, Hirschmugl said there was a substantial effort to educate potential contractors so they wouldn't blindly bid on it. Some of the highlights include the concrete arches that jut out from the canyon walls. Unable to support them from the bottom up, contractors had to hold it in place with cables from above. When they came together late last year, Hirschmugul said they were within three-eighths of an inch.
Zanetell said when the bridge is done, workers have plans to seek out bigger projects.
"We're not looking to retire on this," he said. "It would be a great disservice to our industry if we don't take what we learned here and apply it."
Gee, government at work, I thought government is bad? Notice the lake is even full.
There is going to be a classic car event on this bridge when it opens in the fall with cars from NV and AZ. Get ready for this great event.
The government did not build the bridge. They hired private contractors to build it. If government would have built it with it's own workers they would still be working on the evironmental impact study and their affirmative action plan.
Although a brilliant design and magnificently engineered, the now under construction bridge will bring with it a huge traffic congestion problem for travelers and the people of Southern Nevada once complete. Along with the rest of the aftermath of 911, traffic along Highway 93 to Hoover Dam has been limited to cars and light trucks only, with all heavy duty trucks and busses being routed away from the Dam. Once the bridge is open in late 2010 this traffic will again be allowed on Highway 93 connecting Northwest Arizona to Southern Nevada (Las Vegas). The state of Arizona has fully funded a widening, from 2 lane to 4 lane, of about 15 miles of Highway 93 now under construction in preparation for the Bridge completion. Only the State of Nevada has drug its feet in preparing for the opening of the new Bridge. The State of Nevada has done nothing but study the situation of how to manage increased vehicle traffic flow between Phoenix and Las Vegas through a 7 mile stretch of Highway 93 between Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. The problem being this stretch of Highway 93 is two lane road with multiple stops along the route.
It is a shame and an embarrassment for the State of Nevada to be responsible for spoiling an otherwise marvelous design and engineering effort.
So cynical jlb101. MOST government projects are contracted out to private firms.
Wow! what a beautiful Bridge! This is just perfect! A little bit of a shame that the lower view of the damn has been interfered with, however the cars passing over the bridge are going to get a beautiful view rivaled only by the Grand Canyon! This was a brilliant engineering marvel, and will bring back all of the missing tourists to Black Canyon/Boulder Damn area! My hat is off to the project's architects and engineers! Viva Las Vegas baby!!
To jlb101
The government did complete environmental studies before the project started. Those studies were completed several years ago.
By the way, they are called "Environmental Impact Statements" and include all sorts of thing such as impacts to infrastructure and community beside effects to the environment.
Perhaps you should learn about the process before you needlessly bash the system. Do you know that it is a public process and all of you have the opportunity to participate and make your opinions heard?
Be part of the process if you don't like what is going on.
Leave it to Nevada to put a visual scar across the face of one of the world's most magnificent engineering marvels. Gawd this state is dumb.
CarsonNewshound :
You need to understand that the only people who are going to see this a a "scar" are people flying from where the perspective of this photograph was taken. or a few people hiking on the cliffs, otherwise everyone driving across the bridge gets to see a clear shot of the Dam unobstructed..
Has anyone applied for the bungee jumping concession?
This thing was suppose to open 4 years ago. Talk about job security!
Once again people in the Sun's comment section commenting on things they know nothing about... Get over yourselves and your personal political agenda's!!!
This bridge is beautiful, and will save close to an hour of traffic/delays over the current route. If you think it's an eye sore, you have obviously not been to the dam in a while... ;)
Nice looking bridge for sure. Only problem is nobodys comming to Las Vegas anymore. At least the bridge will be helpfull to all the people leaving Vegas in droves..
mred,
Government provided funding, no workers, and no engineering or design work here. They paid the private sector, the private sector responded.
The private sector built the Space Shuttle.
The private sector built the Saturn V.
The private sector built the Lunar Lander.
The private sector built all the models of space suits.
The private sector builds all military aircraft.
The private sector builds all military guns.
The private sector builds all military vehicles.
All the government does is tax us, and decides where to spend it. But they don't actually do any work. The "evil contractors" do all the work.
Meanwhile, the Boulder City Police Department is gearing up for a tremendous increase in traffic citations, and the resulting windfall of dollars to the city coffers. Speed limits nd traffic laws will be strictly enforced and the city will no longer have a problem with its budget shortfalls.
BEWARE DRIVERS. The radar guns are being polished up in preparation for heavy use.
The building of the bridge is a great thing....It clearly shows that this country can still accomplish amazing things if we put ourselves in the proper mind-set.
Right-wingers will be unhappy to know (many already know but deny it...) that Senator Reid has had a great deal to do with this project from day #1........another reason to keep Harry working for us in Washington!
Uh oh , did El lobo say Harry Reid was on this job from day 1 ? Awww man just when I was really liking it too. I suppose ol Dirty Harry Poured the concrete, stood the expansion beams , he might have ran the cranes ,they blew over in a wind storm and caused several months of delay.i doubt Dirty Harry is really that involved in this project,it's just too nice a project for the likes of him .
Ok, his name is dingy harry - and I am fed up also with the crappy comments of the anti-progressives! Harry is the greatest!
fedup2here.....
Read carefully.......
"Senator Reid has had a great deal to do with this project from day #1.."
It's called federal money being used....OK'd in Washington.....Harry Reid & Washington......Harry Reid & Washington.......Harry Reid & Washington....
Keep saying that over & over....It will finally sink in.....
El lobo
I tried sayin that over and over and all I got was heart burn ,and a bad taste in my mouth from the soap I put in there for cussing like that .
Yeah Rhooster !!!!! ,that sounds a lot better than what that El Lobo guy was saying,, yuck,pooey.
The dirt balls rhooster refers to are
republicans.
environprotect---
otherwise everyone driving across the bridge gets to see a clear shot of the Dam unobstructed
and the article states "Visitors to the dam will be able to see the bridge, but the sheer height of the bridge -- 900 feet above the river -- won't allow motorists traveling across the span to see the dam."
environprotect---
otherwise everyone driving across the bridge gets to see a clear shot of the Dam unobstructed
and the article states "Visitors to the dam will be able to see the bridge, but the sheer height of the bridge -- 900 feet above the river -- won't allow motorists traveling across the span to see the dam."