Construction Activities
What's Happening On-site?
The construction contract for the Colorado
River Bridge, was awarded to the joint venture
partnership of
Obayashi Corporation and PSM Construction USA, Inc.,
in October of 2004 for $114M. Construction began in early 2005 and
is expected to be completed in 2010. When completed, the 2,000
foot-long Colorado River Bridge will span the Black Canyon (about
1,600 feet south of the Hoover Dam), connecting the Arizona and
Nevada Approach highways nearly 900-feet above the Colorado River.
At a point just over one year into this project, the joint venture
contractor had already completed nearly $35M worth of construction. Major
milestone work nearing completion to date is the substructure
excavation for the abutments, approach columns, and arch skewback
footings, followed closely by the erection of the temporary cableway
crane system that will span the canyon to deliver materials and
equipment used in constructing the bridge. Progress continues in the
precast yard where crews are working to construct the precast segments of the bridge columns.
Upcoming work will include concrete placement for the approach
column foundations followed by erection of the approach columns. It
is also anticipated that in 2006, construction will begin on the
cast-in-place arch over the Colorado River.
Another milestone in the construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass has
been reached with the recent completion
of phase two, the
Nevada Approach project. Edward Kraemer &
Sons, Inc., the contractor for the Nevada Approach project, completed
this $30.1 million roadway improvement from Nevada U.S. 93 to the
new Colorado River Bridge crossing nearly two months ahead of
schedule.
Construction of the Nevada Approach, began in October 2003, and
within
its short 24-month duration, the contractor constructed 2.11 miles
of new four-lane highway alignment including six new bridges, a new
traffic interchange at U.S. 93 near the Hacienda Casino, retaining
walls, wildlife crossings, and a 1.6 mile extension of the River
Mountain River Loop hiking trail. To accomplish this feat, the
contractor moved over 1.5 million cubic yards of blasted rock
material, placed 2.8 million pounds of reinforcing steel, and poured
over 12,000 cubic yards of structural concrete.
Next for the Bypass will be the contracting of the phase four
project, scheduled for early 2008. This phase will include asphalt
paving the entire four mile alignment from Nevada to Arizona,
including constructing barrier railing, signage, lighting and
striping.
Phase
One of the Bypass is now finished! Completion of the Sugarloaf
Mountain Bridge signified the end of construction on the Arizona Approach
project.
The project involved building a connection between U.S. 93 and
the Colorado River Bridge. Major components of the $21.5 million project include nearly two miles of
four-lane roadway, a 900-foot bridge
on the east side of Sugarloaf
Mountain, a new traffic interchange at U.S. 93 and Kingman Wash
Road, wildlife crossings, trail access parking, improved drainage
and rock staining. The joint venture contractor,
R. E. Monks Construction and Vastco Inc, were responsible for construction
activities on the Arizona Approach. The project was completed
on time.
Come inside the Construction Zone!
Be sure to check out photos of all our projects in our
Construction Photo Album.
Images are updated periodically. March 2008 photos showing the
progress of the Colorado River Bridge, as well as photos of the
Interim Paving Project (on both the Arizona and Nevada sides) are now posted!

Construction Schedule:

Web Cam:
Construction Web Cam - Our web cam is up and
running! Through the use of our interactive web cam, you can view
live-images of the Colorado River Bridge construction area, zoom in and out on specific
locations, e-mail images to someone, and post your own images to a
photo album. To be redirected to our webcam, all you have to do is
click on the camera in the top left side of any page, or just click here:
Hoover Dam
Bypass Web Cam. (Please note, some internet browsers will need
the pop-up blocker turned off in order to be redirected to the web
cam.)

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