14 replies to this topic

[jazzman]

More than 14,000 cars and trucks travel over Hoover Dam every day. There, they cross the Colorado River, driving across the dam on a two-lane highway built in the early 1930s.

This has become a Hazard for the many tourists navigating the Dam as well as a bottleneck on the only hiway that links AZ with NV.

The centerpiece of the project is a concrete arch, steel deck bridge with 1500 feet of clear span, 840 feet above the river, that will carry four lanes of traffic. It will be the largest concrete arch bridge in the US. Gee, another record.

With the opening of the bridge in 2008 all traffic will be diverted from the dam making the dam a pedestrian friendly place.





B)

[monsoon]

The views from that bridge are going to be quite impressive.

[jazzman]

monsoon, on Jun 22 2005, 07:08 AM, said:

The views from that bridge are going to be quite impressive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hopefully the side walls won't block the view, like so many bridges. Maybe they'll include a parking lot and allow pedestrian traffic (but I doubt it).

[colin]

When they were first planning this, they were talking about it also having a tunnel. I guess that never happened because of time.
I was there in January and it was quite impressive. They already had parts of the highway up on the AZ side.
A map on the site indicates an area designated for parking, and a viewing trail on the north side of the bridge. From those renderings, the views will definitely be beautiful.

Edited by colin, 23 June 2005 - 08:24 AM.

[jazzman]

colin, on Jun 23 2005, 07:20 AM, said:

When they were first planning this, they were talking about it also having a tunnel. I guess that never happened because of time.
A map on the site indicates an area designated for parking, and a viewing trail on the north side of the bridge. From those renderings, the views will definitely be beautiful.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cool, the viewing trail will be great, I can hardly wait.

The tunnel thing puzzles me though. Have you been there? The approach roads on either side of the dam are more than 650' above the river. How the heck could they build a tunnel?    I'm not saying you didn't read it, I'm just saying that it would be an impossible task, unless the tunnel was many miles south of the dam where the terrain is less severe.
B)

[colin]

Not just a tunnel, a bridge/tunnel, hence the "also."
The proposal originally had a few different options, one of which was to build a bridge over the river, and then tunnel through the mountains on the Nevada side.
I swear that one of the options also featured a bridge over Lake Mead.

And yes, upon searching, I was right. Check out the "Other Alternatives Considered" section in the ROD: http://www.hooverdam...rg/pdfs/rod.pdf

Edited by colin, 23 June 2005 - 04:45 PM.

[jazzman]

colin, on Jun 23 2005, 03:44 PM, said:

Not just a tunnel, a bridge/tunnel, hence the "also."
The proposal originally had a few different options, one of which was to build a bridge over the river, and then tunnel through the mountains on the Nevada side.
I swear that one of the options also featured a bridge over Lake Mead.

And yes, upon searching, I was right. Check out the "Other Alternatives Considered" section in the ROD: http://www.hooverdam...rg/pdfs/rod.pdf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was thinking 'inside the box' and trying to imagine tunneling under the river. Then my brain started hurting so I stopped.

Thanks for the PDF, it's very complete and now, I see the light (at the end of the...)

I think they choose the best plan. B)

[colin]

I love seeing the nutty alternatives when these road projects first come out. Every project has them too, and some of them are really interesting. I know that the goal is to explore every possible scenario, but often there are alternatives which are totally infeasible (like the bridge over Lake Mead instead of Boulder Canyon), and probably just waste people's time in even discussing.
Just my thoughts, though.

[TONYCLT]

Here is a rendering of the 4 lane Hoover Dam bypass bridge to be completed by 2010. When th bridge is completed vehicle traffic will stop going over the dam so it can become pedestrian orriented.

Edited by TONYCLT, 15 August 2007 - 08:51 AM.

[richyb83]

WOW! What a monumental task building that massive bridge into the rock; and so deep below! Thanks for posting this. It will be nice for the Dam to be more pedestrian friendly.

[Rardy]

Wow - that's incredible.

Will that be the tallest bridge in use in the U.S.?

[TONYCLT]

Rardy, on Aug 16 2007, 09:26 AM, said:

Wow - that's incredible.

Will that be the tallest bridge in use in the U.S.?

The “Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge” which is now the offical name givin to the bypass, named after former Nevada governor Mike O'Callaghan and former pro football player turned U.S. Army soldier who was KIA in Afganistan Pat Tillman. The bridge will be 2200 feet long and 840 feet tall making it the longest twin-rib arch in the western hemisphere. As for it being the tallest that honor goes to the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado at 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River.


Here is a better rendering of the bridge:

Edited by TONYCLT, 16 August 2007 - 10:53 AM.

[rbdetsport]

Thats going to be weird.

[RON-E]

rbdetsport, on Mar 3 2008, 03:34 PM, said:

Thats going to be weird.

can you elaborate on that?

whats weird about it? im curious...

i like it, i think it is a beautiful structure that will take the threat of terrorism off of the bridge .....somewhat.....
.

[TONYCLT]

Progress as of July 2008.