Pat Tillman Bridge and Hoover Dam

An overall view of the construction of the New Bridge over the Colorado River at the Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada. It also helps provide a... more

by Bob and Nadine Johnston

Title

Pat Tillman Bridge and Hoover Dam

Artist

Bob and Nadine Johnston

Medium

Photograph - Enhanced Painting - Nikon Photography - Gift Or Greeting And Note Cards, Cheaper By The Dozen :o)

Description

An overall view of the construction of the New Bridge over the Colorado River at the Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada. It also helps provide a shortcut from Utah into Nevada. The bridge now has been completed.
This bridge reduces the time to travel from Arizona into Los Vegas and many other areas of Nevada, as speed limits are now 55-65mph.
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The Mike O'Callaghan�Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is an arch bridge in the United States that spans the Colorado River between the states of Arizona and Nevada. The bridge is located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area approximately 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and carries U.S. Route 93 over the Colorado River. Opened in 2010, it was the key component of the Hoover Dam Bypass project, which rerouted US 93 from its previous routing along the top of Hoover Dam and removed several hairpin turns and blind curves from the route. It is jointly named for Mike O'Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971�1979, and Pat Tillman, a football player who left his football career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was later killed in Afghanistan.
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In the past all traffic had to go across the Dam where the speed limit was 15mph, but tourists many times attempted to stop on the bridge or drive at 5mph or slower. There also was only one lane in each direction, which created a backup of traffic due to sharp curves coming down off the mountains in AZ and back up them in Nevada.
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Now, even the road down to the Dam has been straightened some, but traffic still backs up as people try to see the views off both sides of the dam. New parking lots have been built, making it easier for more to stop, and take the tour INTO and through the Dam itself. If you have never made the tour we highly recommend it. We have taken it about four times.
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Due to 911, Homeland Security banned all Truck traffic across the Dam. They also set up security points on both sides of the dam miles back from it to search cars and vans or other vehicles which were allowed.
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Now that the New Bridge has been completed, it cuts off a LOT of time and miles from AZ to NV and 18 wheelers can now cross the bridge instead of the dam. There are still checkpoints to search vehicles, but the are many lanes wide so delays across the bridge are much shorter than they used to be in trips over the dam.

Uploaded

April 3rd, 2013