Highway 93, the road to Vegas, is heavily traveled and has been undergoing lots of renovation and upgrading it to make it safer.  Many sections are now 4 lanes, and it's a smooth traveling road for the most part.  Based on its history of fatal accidents, this is a welcome relief!

I drove to Vegas for the National Association of Realtors conference this week, and made the trip from Scottsdale to Vegas in about 5-5 1/2 hours.  On the way back, I had some extra time, so I decided to stop and take a look at the new bypass bridge that's being built across the gorge at Hoover Dam.

In my mind, the Hoover Dam is already a wonder of the world.  Reading through some of the history of its construction brings me a sense of hardship and commitment to some one's vision of the future.  The bridge that is being built across gives me that same sense.  The span is huge.

I was the first person to the Hoover Dam visitor center Thursday, it was quiet, and a couple of staff people were available, so I could ask some questions.  They have a model set up in the visitor viewing area, but other than the Q&A and the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge web site that they referred me to, they really aren't set up to answer people's questions.

What I learned was that the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge will be the 4th longest span in the world.  That the contractors suffered a major setback when a windstorm knocked over their huge scaffolding. And that the bridge is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

While I love progress, part of the trip to Vegas has always been the slow crawl over the dam bridge, checking out dam and watching the tourists.  For some reason, I look forward to it.  At the same time, my sister reminded me how much nicer it will be for tourists who no longer have to fight traffic to cross roads and get around the "national park".

I was trying to calculate how much time it would save having the bridge in place.  No more security checkpoint on each end. No more 15 mph crawl down and back up.  And a straight 4-lane beeline shoot across the gorge.   Maybe that's a 15-30 minute decrease in trip time, depending on the time of day and year.

It's quite amazing to see in person.  The 2,000 foot span that will connect the  two sides together will be started next year.  It will be quite an amazing  engineering feat. 

The links below will take you to the project web site photo album and give you an even better sense of the scope and progress of the project, plus a bird's eye view.. 

Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge - Project Overview Photo

Artist's Rendering of the Bridge

Construction View from Above

More Construction Photos