Hoover Dam

THE WIDER VIEW: Taking shape, the new bridge at the Hoover Dam

When i started traveling back in 2001 I called in on my family in California. My Nephew , Paul had much pleasure in opening my eyes wide with a trip out to LAS VAGAS. My experience of the Strip and staying in a 7 Star Hotel is a story in itself . However while we were out in Nevada we visited the HOOVER DAM the massive construction depicted poorly in the above photo.

The main road crosses the dam and Zigs and Zags up the other side to the right. Being in the passenger seat I could take photos as we crossed but to get the full grandeur of the site I needed to extricate myself from the vehicle and move to the best photo spots as a pedestrian . Paul dropped me off and drove on to where he could turn, return and endeavoured to locate me again.

Traffic across the dam is BOTTLE NECK, slow moving as each end every one wants to take in the sights as they traverse the dam wall. This news item that was forwarded this morning bought back the memories of the visit and demonstrates the problem solving approach in Nevada.

Creeping closer inch by inch – 900ft above the mighty Colorado River – the two sides of a $240million bridge at the Hoover Dam in America 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 24ft 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 1,000ft 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 next 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.

I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT