News article was from when it was finished about 1 week ago, the bridge opened yesterday.
[url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/14/20101014arizona-hoover-dam-bypass-dedication-ON.html]Source[/url]
[release]The nation's top transportation officials dedicated the Hoover Dam bypass bridge Thursday and announced that the new Colorado River crossing would open to traffic late next week.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaking from the observation deck of the dam, said the bridge reaffirmed a powerful idea.
"Americans can build great things," he said. The workers who built the bridge "have left a legacy worthy of the people who built the dam 75 years ago."
The ceremony capped four decades of planning and seven years of construction and set up Saturday's public unveiling, which is expected to attract 15,000 to 20,000 visitors. They will be treated to the first public glimpse of breathtaking vistas from the deck - Hoover Dam and Lake Mead a quarter-mile upstream, and a river 890 feet below.
[b]The concrete arch structure is the second-highest bridge in the United States and the longest and highest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.[/b]
The bridge was completed within its $114 million budget - cheap for big, modern infrastructure jobs.
Thursday's ceremony unfurled on a warm desert morning. Politicians and other officials spoke at the Hoover Dam visitors center. On the bridge deck itself, a simultaneous event was held for bridge workers and their families. A Kingman high school singing quartet performed the national anthem at the dam. On the bridge, Native American tribes held a dance and a dedication ceremony.
Called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, the span honors people from the two states it connects.
Tillman was the Arizona Cardinals star who joined the U.S. Army after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. O'Callaghan was a two-term Nevada governor and newspaper editor.
Members of Tillman's family, including his widow and the brother who enlisted with him, attended ceremonies on the bridge and were presented with a replica of the plaque there that honors him.
"I'm impressed that his name is going on this bridge," said his father, Pat Tillman Sr. "It's a big deal to me to have such a big structure named after Pat."
For the 1.5 million Arizonans who drive to Las Vegas each year, the bridge heralds an improvement on the 280-mile trip.
A decade-old study predicted the straighter four-lane bypass would shave 17 minutes from the current two-lane route over Hoover Dam.
But officials Thursday predicted time savings of an hour or more. Motorists will no longer cross the top of the dam and will not have to stop for the security checkpoint that was put in place after Sept. 11.
Currently, 15,000 vehicles a day cross Hoover Dam. Officials predicted that in seven years 21,100 daily vehicles will ply the bypass.
The bypass, first envisioned in a 1968 plan, was also conceived to improve safety on U.S. 93. The Federal Highway Administration found that the crash rate within half a mile of Hoover Dam was triple the rate just beyond Black Canyon.
Even before the bridge was finished, regional planners pushed to designate the route a future Interstate 11 and to seek funding to improve U.S. 93 to freeway standards.
At Hoover Dam, travelers gawked at the new bridge.
Allan Rowe, 47, an engineer from Colorado Springs, was visiting the dam the day of the ceremony.
"It's an attraction," said Allan. "When you see this for the first time, it's amazing. It adds to the dam."
His wife, Julie Rowe, 44, added, "I look up at the bridge and ask, 'How did they build it?' just like I look at the dam and ask, 'How did they build it?' "
Read more: [url]http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/14/20101014arizona-hoover-dam-bypass-dedication-ON.html#ixzz133Gn4Sj1[/url][/release]
I live 2 hours from Vegas, and cross the Hoover Dam all the time on the way there and have been watching the bridge being built ever since they started the approaches in 2003 and the piers in 2006.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_O%27Callaghan_%E2%80%93_Pat_Tillman_Memorial_Bridge]Wikipedia article on the bridge.[/url] It was built because of several reasons:
- Fear of a terrorist attack after 9/11 - Trucks were re-routed around the dam on a 20 minute longer route after 9/11 but now no vehicle traffic is allowed on the dam so it's safe from vehicle attacks.
- Security - US Highway 93 approaching the dam is narrow, 2 lanes in both directions, and winds along several cliffs with many hairpin turns making it hard to navigate and incoming traffic nearly invisible. A bridge was necessary to replace the dangerous roadway.
- Travel time - Traffic was almost always backed up for miles. Having been in lines of traffic backed up for more than 10 miles from the dam, there's no doubt that we'll not have to worry about moronic foreign tourists running into the middle of the road to take a picture of the scenery anymore. I'm sure the people of Boulder City will enjoy this too since their main streets are clogged all the time because of those retards.
There were two setbacks during the construction of this bridge:
In September 2006, insanely strong wind gusts caused a crane system to collapse, which held up cable cars meant to carry people and materials over the construction site. This caused a 2-year delay on the bridge, though there was minimal construction beginning the next month. No injuries.
In November 2008, a 48-year-old Las Vegas construction worker was killed when a jack punctured his chest when he was trying to adjust a cable used to align the concrete towers.
Timeline of construction in photos:
Nevada side in May 2007:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/89/Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Construction.jpg/800px-Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Construction.jpg[/img]
Progress in November 2007:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Big_Construction_for_Highway_over_Hoover_Dam_-_8.jpg/800px-Big_Construction_for_Highway_over_Hoover_Dam_-_8.jpg[/img]
What I believe is the Arizona side in December 2008:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/Hoover_Dam_Bypass_construction%2C_Dec_2008.JPG/800px-Hoover_Dam_Bypass_construction%2C_Dec_2008.JPG[/img]
Halfway finished arch in April 2009:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Mike_O%27Callaghan-Pat_Tillman_Memorial_Bridge_%28Hoover_Dam_Bypass%29.jpg/800px-Mike_O%27Callaghan-Pat_Tillman_Memorial_Bridge_%28Hoover_Dam_Bypass%29.jpg[/img]
Arch nearly completed in June 2009:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Hoover_Dam_Bypass_UC.jpg/800px-Hoover_Dam_Bypass_UC.jpg[/img]
Arch completed and temporary towers removed in September 2009:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Hooverbypasssept2009.jpg/800px-Hooverbypasssept2009.jpg[/img]
Span construction beginning in December 2009:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b0/Hoover-bypass-12-2009.JPG/800px-Hoover-bypass-12-2009.JPG[/img]
Span nearly completed in March 2010:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Bridge_-_From_Arizona_-_2010-03-05.JPG/800px-Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Bridge_-_From_Arizona_-_2010-03-05.JPG[/img]
Nearly completed bridge in July 2010:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Bridge_-_2010-07.jpg/750px-Hoover_Dam_Bypass_Bridge_-_2010-07.jpg[/img]
awesome for the bridge I hope it doesnt break apart.
hopefully caesar's legion leaves the dam alone
Dammit, now Obsidian has to edit the map of New Vegas.
Maybe as DLC.
Bundle that shit with horse armor or something.
Is it just me or does it look like it could fall apart at any moment?
I live 15 minutes from the Hoover dam in Nevada, I am going to have to go and drive this bridge this weekend..
[QUOTE=HellSoldier;25562004]Is it just me or does it look like it could fall apart at any moment?[/QUOTE]
Sure looks like it, doesn't it? I'm sure it'll be fine though - the arch has been done for over a year now without collapse and people are driving across this bridge as we speak.
[QUOTE=HellSoldier;25562004]Is it just me or does it look like it could fall apart at any moment?[/QUOTE]
Thats the art of structural engineering.
That's pretty sweet.
Looks cool.
[QUOTE=HellSoldier;25562004]Is it just me or does it look like it could fall apart at any moment?[/QUOTE]
Funny thing about physics. Structural engineers spend years planning this out, making models, adding weight, etc. Generally, things are built to support much more weight than they need to. I know a ropes course in my city only supports one person at a time, and it's maximum load ranges from 10,000 to 50,000 pounds.
I'm sure that bridge can support more people and cars than can possibly fit on it.
Damn that looks nice.
nice i wish i could go there :(
Is this a god dam?
Wow. The NCR really out did themselves with this one.
Pretty spiffy lookin'
Some fringe terror group'll destroy it.. :smith:
[QUOTE=ZakkShock;25568275]Some fringe terror group'll destroy it.. :smith:[/QUOTE]
I was thinking the same thing. They can't get at the valuable hydroelectric dam, so they'll try to blow up the large bridge next to it. :argh:
I hope they extend the same security to the bridge that they do to the dam.
Saw this when we went to Vegas in July, looked pretty sweet.
It's amazing what we as humans are capable of.
It'll probably be used by bungie-jumpers.
allahuakbar
This would've been a great sniping spot in Fallout....:sigh:
Bet you the truck driver tasked with doing the load certification was shitting it.
Pretty sure they have to put two lowboys each filled to the maximum real load over it to prove it's integrity.
It's something insane like that anyway.
[QUOTE=Tunak Mk. II;25561900]Dammit, now Obsidian has to edit the map of New Vegas.
Maybe as DLC.
Bundle that shit with horse armor or something.[/QUOTE]
Horses in Fallout? You must mean Brahmin armor! Mutated cows in power armor, no aliens gonna fuck with them cows again. It may even render them immune to twisters aswell.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
