Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam, also known as Boulder Dam is located 35 miles southeast of Las Vegas on US Highway 93 at the Nevada-Arizona border. Plan on an hour drive as the route is heavily traveled. Additional delays will exist until June 2010 due to the Hoover Dam Bypass project.  Click here to monitor construction and traffic, see live web cam pictures.

Hoover Dam is one of the greatest engineering projects ever accomplished. It is a testimony to the country's ability to construct monolithic projects in the midst of adverse conditions.   The Dam is a National Historic landmark and has been rated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders. Here are some impressive facts.

• Hoover Dam is 726 ft tall. That is 171 ft. taller than the Washington Monument in Washington D.C, and twice as tall as the Luxor Casino (338 ft.) in Las Vegas Nevada.
• At its base, Hoover Dam is as thick as two football fields measured end-to-end (660 ft.).
• There is enough concrete in Hoover Dam (4 1/2 million cubic yards) to build a two lane road from Seattle Washington to Miami, Florida or a 4 ft. wide sidewalk around the Earth at the Equator.
• Click to see more facts

The mission of Hoover Dam was multi purpose.  Flooding along the Colorado river as it made its way to the Gulf of Califorina had to be controlled.  The water flow had to be harnessed to provide much needed water to the fertile, yet arid agricultural areas of Califorinia and Arizonia.  And Hydroelectric energy was to satisfy the requirementas of millions of people in adjacent regions.  A scenic by-product of Hoover Dam is the gigantic resivor of Lake Mead.