Hoover Dam Bridge Event - 10/16/10

The event was dubbed the Bridging America event. Finally, we are enjoying the long awaited two week long grand opening of the bridge by-pass over Hoover Dam.

Its name is now officially the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. O'Callaghan was a favorite son of Nevada and Tillman reigned from Arizona. The two names put together represent the joining of these two states by this incredible feat of engineering.

Kay Komuro joined many members of the Around the Bend Friends to be shuttled to the Arizona side of the bridge on double decker buses. They all walked across, presumably taking tons of pictures, and were shuttled back to their cars. Kay's words to me by email were as follows: "So many people, polices, volunteers and double decker busses in one place." She graciously offers these pictures from her website.

The O'Callaghan- Tillman Bridge is the second highest bridge in the United States; second only to the Royal Gorge Bridge. It cost $240 million dollars to build. The people of Las Vegas watched over the past eight or nine years as the bridge was built while slowly crossing the dam by car, sight- seeing from the dam, waving at the policemen with straight faces as we went through the security checkpoints, and even from below when we kayaked the Colorado or hiked the Gold Strike Canyon. The last picture in this entry was taken last year from Fortification Hill, a popular hike on the Arizona side of Lake Mead. Fortification Hill's slanted flat top is seen in the top picture in the background.


The bridge sits 1700 feet downstream and 280 feet above Hoover Dam. The Review- Journal's reporter, Kyle Hansen, wrote today, "After the bridge opens to traffic on an unannounced day next week, people will still be able to walk across the span to admire the Hoover Dam, but will have to stay on a sidewalk that is only accessible from a small parking area near the dam."

Yesterday, the tunnel in Switzerland; today, the bridge in the United States. What will tomorrow bring?

We hope that the club members had a lot of fun among the crowd today. Just peer at the photo below and remember when ....