Gives me vertigo just looking at the pics! One heck of a project.

I've visited the dam a couple of times in the past two years - was TDY to Nellis AFB. To say that both projects are impressive bits of engineering would be understating the case. The white line is actually the high water mark from one year - 1982 I think - where they were dumping water through the spillways as fast as they could to keep the dam from being overtopped.

I've driven Route 93 from Jasper, Canada down to near Phoenix. Fabulous road throughout.

Mr. FM you and missus would enjoy a short Jaunt from Phoenix to Jasper and back on your bikes. 2700 km one way, great scenery, deserts, mountains, plains, lakes, grand canyons, Las Vegas, drive over the new bridge, take a few short side trips to LA, Salt Lake, etc.

Awesome photos! See the kayaks? My Scouts will be doing the trip in two weeks. We start at the base of the dam and head downstream 14 miles.

SPECTACULAR!

I should point out that the bridge is going to be completed THREE YEARS LATER THAN PLANNED, because it took three years to get the "environmental impact study" completed, studied and okayed.

Kill them all.

I get vertigo in the car park at the Grand Canyon. My husband loves going to Hoover Dam. I can't even drive across it without getting dizzy and disoriented. It is spectacular.

A very interesting area, and quite a spectacular one for sightseeing. Back in the mid-90's, on a family trip (self, spouse, daughter, daughter's best friend and son) to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, we had a day when we wanted to do something other than run around Vegas, and had already been to the Grand Canyon for a full day (including a flyover above the canyon by sightseeing plane - you could still do that, back then; don't think it's allowed, anymore) - so, we went on a river-rafting trip down the river below the dam, through Black Canyon. In the picture looking down through the lower canyon from above the dam (the one showing the four penstock towers above the dam), just under the center of the new bridge being constructed, you can see the access road (steep and narrow!) curving down to where we boarded the big inflatable raft for the trip. Whole trip took from mid-morning (we came down from Vegas on a small ex-schoolbus, still painted yellow) until late afternoon, with a couple of stops along the way, for swimming and (near the bottom of the canyon) for lunch. This was in early July so it was HOT!! However, we stayed cool easily enough - the water in the canyon, coming from the bottom layers of Lake Mead is icy cold, even in mid-Summer. We just soaked towels in the river water, and draped them around our necks or over our heads whenever we got heated up.

Fun!!