I've had the pleasure of making the drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas this Holiday Season. It's a drive that I've done a few times in the past and it's always interesting. It's about a five hour drive and the highlight is Hoover Dam. I am always amazed by it. This trip I discover the Feds are in the process of building a bypass that will include a bridge of dizzing heights. I didn't know anything about it until we saw the cranes and the smooth dirt roads with smaller bridges already built. This link has more info; http://www.hooverdambypass.org/default.htm. Here are a few pics.

 

These were taken from a moving car. I was surprised how clear they came out.

 

 

 

 

It took only four years to build this thing. You can take tours and see the giant generators and learn interesting bits such as; the concrete is still curing to this day so it's getting stronger. If a passenger jet decided to fly into it, the plane would crumble like a beer can against grasscat's head. Semi-trucks are still ban from driving over the dam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water level is a bit low.

 

 

AZ

 

Now in Vegas

 

It's all about the juice. These tower are nearly sideways.

 

 

 

    Thanks for the photos. This was the first time I had ever seen photos other than the downstream view. I had no idea that the rest of the structures existed!

Beautiful!

A Dam.. and a work of art.

dam cool!

Interesting photo coverage. Isn't Hoover the dam that's in the PBS documentary that airs occasionally, with vintage film of the construction? The documentary shows what in amazing construction feat it was, especially given the technology available at the time.

^...and the Seven Companies, or whatever they were called, were completely seat-of-their-pantsing it...like, they'd built roads, before, and sold the government on their ability to deliver, but had no idea what the hell they were doing...very fun (since it worked out well in the end).

If a passenger jet decided to fly into it, the plane would crumble like a beer can against grasscat's head.

 

WTF?!?   :laugh:

 

That's beautiful country.  Those first couple of pics almost look computer-generated.

^I was trying to create a mental image that people could relate too. ;-)