Despite the number of miles I travel each year, I’m not much of a conventional tourist, seldom going out of my way for the advertised attractions. I’ve been to Philadelphia 7 or 8 times, for example, but have never ventured south of the Turnpike.
Our recent trip home from Phoenix through Las Vegas, however, just happened to send us over the Hoover dam. I was really quite blown away by the whole thing – and the fact that it was constructed 70 years ago. If this isn’t one of the world’s 7 modern wonders, well – they need an 8th.
But that isn’t why I’m mentioning it.
This is.
| This illustration from the Hoover Dam Bypass website shows what they’re up to. |
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It hasn’t been without problems…
(full size)
A couple more photos taken from the truck window;
East side.
West side.
Just. Wow.
the story is when they were building the dam, they had to send some cables thru a long pipe and neglected to put a pull rope in it when the pipe aka conduit was installed.
so they tied a thread to the tail of a cat and tossed a mouse in the pipe in plain sight of the cat which took off leaving the thread in its path.
which was used to pull a heavier thread and then string and then heavier string and then rope strong enough to pull the electric cables thru.
I dont know if this is just folklore but it would work.
Big Bam’s and Bridges are all pretty stunning feats of engineering and beautiful in their raw forms.
Of course the benefits of electric dams are incalcuable.
I was in Vegas two weeks ago and missed the opportunity to go to the Hoover Dam. Next year.
Of course there is a sad reason why that bridge is being built….terrorism
I had the pleasure of cycling across the dam in 94. Amazing view and an equally amazing feat of modern engineering.
If you’ve done the Hoover Dam tour then you need to watch Chevy Chase’s Las Vegas Vacation. What a hoot. Obviously, there’s a scene with a Hoover Dam tour.
I visited the Hoover Dam last October and saw the construction. The traffic over the dam moves pretty slowly but I imagine that Stephen is correct about the reason for the overpass.
The amazing part of the construction (from the tour) is that they needed to cool the concrete blocks as they were poured and had a large refrigeration plant to do this. Of course, that and the fact that it was built under budget and ahead of schedule.
Hoover Dam is a thing of beauty. It has grace and style. The style is art deco. And millions of people have benefitted from the immense amount of power and irrigation and work and play (on the lake that was created) that this dam has generated.
Stephen, I think the bypass is not just about terrorism. The surrounding area has grown and developed and the highway over the dam is a bottlneck. I think that it could not be easily widened.
Hoover Dam is a thing of beauty. It has grace and style. The style is art deco. And millions of people have benefitted from the immense amount of power and irrigation and work and play (on the lake that was created) that this dam has generated.
Stephen, I think the bypass is not just about terrorism. The surrounding area has grown and developed and the highway over the dam is a bottleneck. I think that it could not be easily widened.
I drove through there 2 years ago and noticed this construction project (the bypass). It was incredible. You have to see it in person to really do it justice.
Haven’t been there yet but it is on my list. (Some people hit 50 and then for some reason tend to make lists of things they want to see and/or do before they die)
The amazing part of this and other engineering marvels of it’s time is that all the design and engineering was done without computers and calculators. The Golden Gate Bridge is another along with New York city’s water supply system.
And to tie in with previous discussions on road trips across the country, imagine crossing the Rockies a hundred and twenty years ago trying to find the best route to put a railway through. Remember now, no detailed maps, no satelite images, not even an aerial view from a plane to help. Our forefathers were one tough breed back then.
If you want to see a modern engineering triumph, take a look at what they are doing in the Kicking Horse Pass in BC. Highway 1 between Banff and Golden is undergoing a MAJOR redesign.
Kicking Horse Canyon Project
From the Google Earth listing – if you look at the arial photo of the area the highway 93 interstate is four times the width of the exsisting road and will be needed to carry the traffic.
The present route of U.S. 93 uses the top of Hoover Dam to cross the Colorado River. U.S. Highway 93 is the major commercial corridor between the states of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah; it is also on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) route between Mexico and Canada.
As well there is a web cam showing the current construction at http://www.hooverdambypass.org/
That reminds me of that bridge the French built across a longish valley. Some days you’d be driving through the clouds to cross it.
Also, there’s another dam built like Hoover somewhere up the Colorado River, but I forget its name. We’ve crossed this other river, but not the Hoover.
the Millau viaduct is a cable stayed bridge, this one is an concrete arch bridge.
here is some good info as well.
http://www.eng.ku.ac.th/~irre/E10HYDRO.HTM
Concrete arch or compression dams are the most beautiful and material efficient of dams as they use the pressure of the water reservior against itself via the compression of the concrete arch.
The Roosevelt dam is arguably more impressive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Dam) than the Hoover because it was completed in 1911(!!).
my favourite is the HungryHorse Dam in Montana, the double curve gives it a steeper face than Hoover or Roosevelt and the round spillway is spectacular with the bathtub drain effect.
…is it true when you flush the toilet in Las Vegas the dam goes down a foot?
😉
I visited the Hoover Dam back in 1996. At that time, once could still do the complete down-into-the-dam tour. Since 9/11, that’s been stopped.
When you went down in the elevator (quite a descent in itself!), you started to get the sense of larger than life.
The Generator Room was the highlight. There are seven huge -and I do mean huge- generators. They only have four running at any time, rotating the usage to distribute the wear and tear evenly among the generators. These are the original generators, installed during construction of the dam. Only some parts have been replaced. Those massive machines were built to last and are larger than life.
The closest analogy I can make is to the scenes of the massive underground installation and machinery in the 50’s classic science fiction movie “Forbidden Planet”.
Even without the tour inside the dam, it’s well worth the visit. But if they ever do allow the interior tour again and you have the opportunity, don’t miss it…and take your camera!