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| - After visiting Hoover Dam, we drove back up the road and stopped to check out the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which had unknowingly had driven across because we missed the turnoff to get to the Dam. After seeing this beautiful arch bridge from the Hoover Dam and that it had a pedestrian walkway, we had to make the trek on it. There's a large free visitor's parking lot and from there you walk up stairs or take the switchback to get to the bridge walkway.
Curious about bridge's name? The bridge was named for Mike O'Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971-1979, and Pat Tillman, a NFL football player who left the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was later sadly killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire.
The bridge, which opened in 2010, spans the Colorado River and is US Route 93 connecting Arizona and Nevada eliminating the old route across the top of the Dam. The bridge has a couple of firsts: concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the U.S.; widest arch in the Western Hemisphere; highest concrete arch bridge.
Walked about two thirds down the pedestrian walkway and took amazing pictures of Hoover Dam, the Colorado River behind it and the water below coming through the power plant. The Bridge spans the Black Canyon and the gusting through it was strong. Combined with the traffic whizzing by, it made for an experience.
If you're going to visit Hoover Dam, a stop to visit the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is a must.
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