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Creeping closer inch by inch, 900 feet above the mighty Colorado River, the two sides of a $160 million bridge at the Hoover Dam slowly take shape. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself. When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona . In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face..

The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons.


The arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road.

The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and an American Football player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan.

Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish by end of this year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day.

The dam was started in 1931 and used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco. The stretch of water it created, Lake Mead, is 110 miles long and took six years to fill. The original road was opened at the same time as the famous dam in 1936. More photos below.

An extra note: The top of the white band of rock in Lake Mead is the old waterline prior to the drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level.






17 comments to “Taking shape, the new bridge at the Hoover Dam”

  1. WOW!!!! That looks splendid..... It's kinda scary too.... Nice pics though.....

    Ash....
    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

  1. Amazing..its on the way to Grand canyon?..I think this is the same we saw two years back when it was under construction.

  1. Amazing bridge Wow!!
    Looks very unique ...

  1. Wow lovely images...this is what a great human mind can up with!!

  1. Wow!!!! Amazing!

  1. Thank you @ Ashkuku (Yeah scary..those ships resemble as flies)

    Thank you @ Renu (Ohh really, you have watched the construction site, great!!)

    Thank you @ Anya

    Thank you @ Nazish (Hmmmm...Men and Machines)

    Thank you @ Susri (Nothing is impossible)

  1. Wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous new year.
    I appreciate for your wonderful post with lovely pictures. The bridge looks marvellous.

  1. vallah..gr8 post..and thanks buddy...stay connected..:)

  1. Wish you a very Happy Makar Sankranti and Happy Pongal.

  1. That looks awe-inspiring. Human minds can conjure up such marvels. I have not been there but can imagine how splendid this might look.

  1. thanks buddy:)

  1. vallah..u r also from the gr8 New Collllege..awesome buddy..:)

  1. Wow!
    Some task they carry out!
    but looking at those photos...sure left "butterflies in my stomach"

  1. Thank you Babli, i wish you the same!!

    Thank you Ramesh

    Thank you Aparna, wish one day i visit over there

    Thank you Hazel Lady

    Thank you KipMatsumura

  1. good pictures

  1. Did I read somewhere that this is completed now.....

  1. Amazing pictures

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