I still laugh thinking about how my friend Dave Scales and I once got into a huge argument in that gridlock and heat, arguing about biofuels or presidential history or some such thing that you only argue about in extreme heat.
But! That ridiculous argument needn't have happened, had we been driving over the Hoover Dam in 2010. Check out the engineering behind the new Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge.
They finally built a bypass for that place, huh? I was in Vegas back in 2000 and one day I decided to drive a little into Arizona... but I only got so far past the Hoover Dam before the slooooow traffic pissed me off enough to turn around and go back.
Drove over that dam in 2000... on July 4... after leaving Las Vegas at noon... Yeah, it was hot but the view looking down on the fireworks in Albuquerque that evening was worth it.
My grandfather worked on Boulder Dam; an album here has a picture of my grandmother standing in the dry riverbed looking up at the dam. Pretty impressive too.
Thanks for sharing the bridge!
We've driven over the dam 4 times in the past year and it is amazing to see the progress between each trip (although not so much on the trips where it's just been a week in Vegas and we're on our way back home to Phx :P). I don't think we'll be using the bypass even when it is complete though unless we were late getting on the road. I have memories going back all the way to my preteen years of that bridge, and I'm going to force them on my kids too! /meanmommy
I desperately want to buy/own the concession allowing me to sell bungee-jumps off that bridge!! And/or the rights to base-jump off the bridge! And/or a ridiculously gigantic swing/ride! But I have no money and I don't know who in Hoover Dam's and/or Nevada's/Arizona's bureaucracy to talk to about that. Some casino down there would be extremely wise to buy those concessions ASAP. I lived in Vegas for 13 years (well, Henderson really). I knew about the bridge being built many years ago. I made a brief attempt a few years ago to find out about that concession. Didn't get very far. Insurance would be nigh-on impossible.
I would like to point out to you, Dave, that those are temporary towers on the bridges. The final bridge is going to be a rather plain arch bridge, according to the project Website (here) [hooverdambypass.org]
