Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

There has been so much talk about the new bridge at Hoover dam that we decided to check it out.


• The highest and longest arched concrete bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

• The second-highest bridge of any kind in the United States and 14th in the world.

• The world's tallest concrete columns of their kind.

I knew who Pat Tillman was, a former football player for the Arizona Cardinals killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.  I had to Google to find out who O'Callaghan was; a Korean War veteran and two term governor of Nevada.
Thus it is named for people from each of the two states hosting the bridge.

The bridge was built after the tragedy of
9-11.  Since highway 93 crossed over the dam it was feared terrorists might try to blow it up, so prior to the completion of the bridge in October 2010 commercial traffic had to make a 75 mile detour and private vehicles had to pass a security checkpoint.  Now this bottleneck to traffic on highway 93 has been eliminated.
The checkpoint is still there, private vehicles can cross the bridge to park and visit the dam.  There was a long line at the checkpoint when we were there.

You can find more bridges at Sunday Bridges, hosted by Louis at San Francisco Bay Daily Photo.

Bridge or Arch?

While the terms "natural bridge" and "natural arch" are often used interchangeably, geologists usually make a distinction.

Rainbow Bridge

 The term "bridge" is usually used to indicate a span that has been eroded by a stream running through it.

Double Arch

Arches are also formed by water but by the freezing and thawing and chemical weathering of water.

Linked to Sunday Bridges, hosted for us by Louis at San Francisco Daily Photo.