Hoover Dam Bypass
By Henry Petroski
A bridge’s design becomes a special challenge when it shares scenery with an engineering icon
This Article From Issue
September-October 2010
Volume 98, Number 5
Page 373
DOI: 10.1511/2010.86.373
Hoover Dam, one of the world’s iconic engineering structures, is now 75 years old. When completed in 1935, it was the world’s largest concrete structure, and at 726 feet tall, it remains the highest concrete dam in the United States. Once the world’s largest hydroelectric power generating station, it still produces enough electricity to serve about 1.3 million people in Arizona, California and Nevada. However, there is one appurtenance to the dam that has long been obsolete, and that is the stretch of U.S. Highway 93 that crosses the Colorado River via the two-lane pavement atop the crest of the dam. This road is frequently congested with cars and trucks that compete for space and right-of-way with tourists crisscrossing the dam’s top on foot.
Photograph courtesy of the Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division.
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