A Breathtaking New Bridge

The construction of the bridge that bypasses the Hoover Dam was an Erector Set dream come true for this photographer

  • By T.A. Frail
  • Photographs by James Stillings
  • Smithsonian magazine, December 2010, Subscribe
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Hoover Dam bridge awaiting decking The bridge, which is awaiting decking and with temporary pylons in September 2009, was built to bypass the part of U.S. Route 93 that crosses the Hoover Dam.

Jamey Stillings

 

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    Jamey Stillings has been a professional photographer since 1983. His work has taken him across the country and to Nicaragua, India and the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. In March of 2009, he was between assignments when he decided to take what he calls a "photo road trip" from his home in Santa Fe to the Mojave Desert to scout some solar-power plants there.

    He didn't make it to the power plants that day. A sight at the Hoover Dam intervened: two legs of an incomplete arch had been anchored into opposite sides of a canyon about a quarter-mile south of the dam; they were held up by steel cables stretched over towering concrete pillars. Clearly, an epic bridge was underway. "I looked at the bridge and said, "Holy Toledo," recalls Stillings. "It played on all the Erector Set fantasies you could imagine. I've had a long-standing interest in the man-altered landscape, in places where man and nature intersect, and this was that on steroids."

    It was sunset—the construction lights were coming on. "I just thought, wow, how about spending a day here?" he says. One day turned into more than 30 visits over the next year and a half as the bridge—centerpiece of the Hoover Dam bypass that opened this past October—took shape. Half a dozen times, he chartered a helicopter on his own dime.

    The dam, dedicated 75 years ago, remains one of the engineering wonders of the world: a concrete wall more than 1,200 feet long and 700 feet high that corked the Colorado River, created the startling blue vastness of Lake Mead and still provides water and electricity to three states. But the bridge is a worthy complement: it carries a four-lane highway almost 900 feet above the river, and it rests on the longest concrete arch in the United States, 1,060 feet. It was built to circumvent the dam-crossing stretch of U.S. Route 93, which was a narrow, tortuous and accident-prone kink in the designated NAFTA highway corridor between Mexico and Canada. Tourists can still drive across the dam, but others will be routed over what has been named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, commemorating, respectively, a popular 1970s Nevada governor and the former Arizona Cardinals football player killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004 while serving in the U.S. Army.

    Stillings says he'd like his photographs of the bridge to commemorate the talent and labor of those who built it. But he acknowledges, too, a lingering sadness now that the project is finished. "The evolution of something is more interesting than its completion," he says. "We don't yet understand everything about what it's going to become."

    Jamey Stillings is a photographer based in Santa Fe. T.A. Frail is a senior editor at Smithsonian.


    Jamey Stillings has been a professional photographer since 1983. His work has taken him across the country and to Nicaragua, India and the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. In March of 2009, he was between assignments when he decided to take what he calls a "photo road trip" from his home in Santa Fe to the Mojave Desert to scout some solar-power plants there.

    He didn't make it to the power plants that day. A sight at the Hoover Dam intervened: two legs of an incomplete arch had been anchored into opposite sides of a canyon about a quarter-mile south of the dam; they were held up by steel cables stretched over towering concrete pillars. Clearly, an epic bridge was underway. "I looked at the bridge and said, "Holy Toledo," recalls Stillings. "It played on all the Erector Set fantasies you could imagine. I've had a long-standing interest in the man-altered landscape, in places where man and nature intersect, and this was that on steroids."

    It was sunset—the construction lights were coming on. "I just thought, wow, how about spending a day here?" he says. One day turned into more than 30 visits over the next year and a half as the bridge—centerpiece of the Hoover Dam bypass that opened this past October—took shape. Half a dozen times, he chartered a helicopter on his own dime.

    The dam, dedicated 75 years ago, remains one of the engineering wonders of the world: a concrete wall more than 1,200 feet long and 700 feet high that corked the Colorado River, created the startling blue vastness of Lake Mead and still provides water and electricity to three states. But the bridge is a worthy complement: it carries a four-lane highway almost 900 feet above the river, and it rests on the longest concrete arch in the United States, 1,060 feet. It was built to circumvent the dam-crossing stretch of U.S. Route 93, which was a narrow, tortuous and accident-prone kink in the designated NAFTA highway corridor between Mexico and Canada. Tourists can still drive across the dam, but others will be routed over what has been named the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, commemorating, respectively, a popular 1970s Nevada governor and the former Arizona Cardinals football player killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004 while serving in the U.S. Army.

    Stillings says he'd like his photographs of the bridge to commemorate the talent and labor of those who built it. But he acknowledges, too, a lingering sadness now that the project is finished. "The evolution of something is more interesting than its completion," he says. "We don't yet understand everything about what it's going to become."

    Jamey Stillings is a photographer based in Santa Fe. T.A. Frail is a senior editor at Smithsonian.

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    Comments (17)

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    We're heading that way this spring. This was the first I had heard about the brige so will definately make the time to see it. thanks Smith.Mag for bringing this to so many's attention.

    Posted by Connie H. on January 17,2011 | 08:06 PM

    Was there a video tape made of the construction during the construction of the bridge? If so do you know if a copy is for sale?

    raymond d. stephens jr.

    RDS.jr.1@gmail.com

    Posted by raymond d.stephens jr. on December 17,2010 | 08:59 PM

    i think that here in peru that project is impossible

    Posted by alejandro on December 15,2010 | 09:36 PM

    We have crossed Hoover Dam several times and toured it also and it is indeed an engineering wonder of the world. The engineering, workmanship and materials that were used 75 years ago have stood the test of time. I hope the same care was used to construct the bridge and 75 years from now my grand-children can marvel that both are still doing the job they were designed to do. Google Hoover Dam and be impressed at the magnitude of that great project.

    Posted by Glenn McKinney on December 4,2010 | 08:56 PM

    After 9/11/2001, I recall that there was some concern about possible terrorism on top of the Hoover dam. So I wonder if that is another reason for this bypass. http://books.google.com/books?id=A2nJCPPixGQC&pg=PA225

    Posted by Rick on December 2,2010 | 10:50 PM

    I live in Las Vegas, and had the pleasure of watching this bridge being built, then actually walk across it and see the dam from a unique perspective. Magnificent! Kudos to the engineers, architects, and workers who designed and built it!

    Posted by Robert Habas on December 2,2010 | 02:15 PM

    Oh wow, such awesome fotos. I had the good fortune to see and photograph some of the progress. What a wonder, and I agree the charm was in the building process. We walked the length of the Bridge on November 27, 2010. Awesome to observe the dam from that distance and height.

    Posted by Judy on December 1,2010 | 01:19 AM

    Pay, call that a bridge, Nah.

    *This* is a bridge..

    http://www.hoax-slayer.com/millau-viaduct-photo.html

    Yours does look good though.

    Posted by Simon on November 29,2010 | 09:12 AM

    I would be interested in buying pictures or posters of the marvel arch.

    Posted by Stanley Hoinacki on November 27,2010 | 01:43 AM

    Beautiful picturs Jamie! Way to go cousin!

    Posted by Gretchen Lawrence on November 27,2010 | 09:34 AM

    Thanks very much for sharing the wonderful photos, doubt I'll ever get there but agree full that the evolution is more interesting than the completion. The photos certainly satisfy the question of what and how they did it.
    As far as the 'wall' which prevent the viewing,perhaps they will build another one for those who would slow and linger and otherwise hinder and distract themselves from the task of driving. Sorry, but I believe it was built to allow for the movement of traffic and prevention of accidents.
    Again thanks for sharing the Photos.

    Posted by G W Brooks on November 25,2010 | 07:23 AM

    The one construction worker who was killed making the bridge should have their name on it as well. Contrast this with Boulder Dam (its real name). Due to the speed of its construction, and cheap human life during the depression, many workers died in an era where their was no safety for the workers.

    Posted by Gerald Miller on November 24,2010 | 01:51 AM

    The best way to use the tax dollars!!!
    Thank God that somebody was using his had in planing it with the side walls you idiot. All that is missing now is an other idiot suddenly slamming the breaks in the middle of the bridge 'cause he wants to look at the Dam while he drive over.
    Common Sense is still alive in America.
    God Bless You All my fellow FREE AMERICANS!!!

    Posted by Fanel Domocos on November 24,2010 | 11:08 PM

    They built the view blocking wall to stop rubbernecking and accidents. You can exit on the north side and then park and actually walk across the bridge in full view of the dam.

    Posted by michael on November 24,2010 | 02:50 PM

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