Revisiting the Bridge at Hoover Dam

Reviewing past posts, there are quite a few about construction and building topics.  I suppose that’s appropriate – these days I make my living as a construction executive after all, and I’ve done good time at a couple of major architecture and construction firms over the years.  Those facts put the little encounter I had yesterday at the office into perspective.

In 2013, Mary and I combined a work trip to Las Vegas with a drive up to the Grand Canyon.  On the way, we made a point of stopping at the Hoover Dam for the tour (see this post), and for a walk across the new bridge.  It turns out that one of my work colleagues (an engineer who works as a construction project manager) had some aerial photos that had been taken during the construction of the bridge, and he shared them, so I thought I’d make them the topic of today’s blog post.

If you’re familiar with the construction of many highway bridges in the west, they are often concrete arches, as is this one.  What I didn’t realize until now is that the concrete is cast in situ – forms are constructed and the concrete is poured into them at the job site in the position that it is to be used.  That makes for some fascinating process photos, as shown in the accompanying images…I’ll let them speak for themselves.