Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge

When I visited Hoover Dam for the first time, back in 2007, I remember the slow moving traffic over the dam wall. 18-wheelers, busses, cars... and in between tourists like me trying to snap a shot of the dam. I had exactly one minute to jump out of the tour bus, take my picture (while trying to not be run over), and be back in the vehicle. No parking, no stopping. It’s a main road connecting Nevada and Arizona, after all! It’s like stopping to take a picture at the A4 in Germany... Simply not a good idea.

This time around, I got to appreciate yet another engineering wonder which sprang up between 2005 and 2010. The “Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge”. Roughly 500 meters down from Hoover Dam, this magnificent 600 meter arch bridge bridges over what is known as the Black Canyon.

Again, I was absolutely fascinated how this bridge is not only a display of engineering genius but also esthetic. Despite its size, it beautifully blends into the nature and its surrounding. It builds an esthetic unit with the Hoover Dam. Two amazing structures built some 74 years apart. Just imagine the engineering advances! Computers, materials, technologies, experience...

The bridge not only connects Arizona and Nevada and relives Hoover Dam of its traffic jam. The sidewalk gives adventurous pedestrians (I guess the ones not suffering vertigo), and hobby photographers an unprecedented view of the Hoover Dam.

Others might take the opportunity to measure the bridge’s apparent height considering the battling forces of gravity and wind affecting a blob of spit during its downward travel... (Author’s note: Spit far out, otherwise your measurement object will travel under the bridge and you won’t see it hit the water or rock surface. Hold your glasses! Don’t lean too far over the railing! Consider wind speed! Never spit into the wind!).