 Creeping closer inch by inch, 900 feet above the mighty Colorado River, the two sides of a $160 million bridge at Hoover Dam slowly take shape. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself. |
 When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona. In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face. |
The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons. |
The arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road. The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and an American Football player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan. Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish next year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day. |
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The dam was started in 1 |
 An extra note: The top of the white band of rock in Lake Mead is the old waterline prior to the drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level |
 (Click on the pics to see the full sized version) |
Something Really Cool From BevnTempe
Filed under BevnTempe
The BackChannel Blog 
Good post, Bev.
The Hoover Dam is awesome, honest use of that word.
that part of the world is just incredible in its beauty. Some of my favorite landscapes.
Wonderful piece, Bev! The photos are amazing!
Here’s one reason why I don’t like Sestak….
WTF was he thinking when he accused the White House of offering him a job to get out of the Dem primary? WTF was he thinking yesterday when he reiterated that charge on MTP? Does he not realize the implications of that charge? Or is he so self centered and ambitious that he doesn’t care that he is causing problems for the President?
For the record, I don’t believe Sestak. I seriously doubt that any senior WH official would have been so foolish as to attempt to bribe Sestak or offer him a quid pro quo. This WH is too damned smart for that. Whatever transpired, I’m pretty sure it was not as Sestak has alleged. But now the rethugs are asking for an ethics investigation. And it is only a matter of time before the calls start for an independent prosecutor. So who do we have to thank for this? Sestak. Is that the kind of guy we want “on our side?”
Nannymm,
I’m with you. I think by putting out that the WH offered him a job, and by him turning it down, was his attempt at his faux-populism and a way to distance himself from the evil Washington insiders. Had he thought this out, he could have figured out that:
1. The ethics investigation would be inevitable.
2. The WH would deny it.
This is a win-win for the Republicans. If the WH did it, then an ongoing investigation will dominate the news coverage, making the Democrats look bad for the 2010 election and giving the Republicans cover for their own sins. If the WH did not do it, then Sestak’s credibility is shot and he will lose in the general.
Either way, he used extremely poor judgment. Not something you want in a Senator.
Love the piece Bev. I remember visiting Hoover Dam as a kid. We went on the tour and they told us in great detail of it’s construction. Then they took us through the inside of the dam and we saw the massive generators. This is the sort of thing every young boy who grew up playing with Tonka trucks dreams of.
Sestak has backed himself into a corner. Now he either has to admit that he lied or grossly exaggerated or he has to get into a fight with the WH that will be damaging to all. Either way, he looks bad and has made more than a few enemies both in and out of the WH. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone “leaks” something really damaging that will force him out of the race ASAP. Personally, I’d like to hear more about why he was relieved of his command. There is just something about him that I don’t like and don’t trust. He gives off a very creepy vibe.
Nannymm,
I miss Arlen Specter already. 😉
morning peeps
Me, too, dnd. He was no prize but at least he didn’t invite this kind of trouble.
Heckuva job, Barack!
In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted, according to records.
Your Moment of: WTF?
We are making sure teenagers go to jail but people of privilege skate.
Corporations are god and citizens as worker bees for the greater greed.
If you want freedom, start a business. If you want civil rights, stick with your own kind. Party like it’s 1951!
And be sure to thank CNN for warning us about the new Miss America with that great headline: Miss USA: Muslim Trailblazer or Hezbollah Spy?
Apparently BP hates Arizona because the free market of Big Oil hires these folks in Florida. I’m sure it has nothing to do with minimum wage or regulations or big government impeding the free market or…?
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion/74-74/2027-your-moment-of-wtf
Earlier this month, an energy bill was finally unveiled in the Senate. It is deeply flawed: for a start, it would increase the incentives for offshore drilling, and preëmpt the E.P.A.’s ability to enforce parts of the Clean Air Act. Obama should return to the Gulf and, against the backdrop of the grotesque orange slick, explain to the public why he wants more ambitious legislation. Then he should spend the summer working to get an energy bill passed. He’s not going to get a better opportunity—or so, at least, we have to hope. ♦
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/05/31/100531taco_talk_kolbert#ixzz0osGB2y7R
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/05/31/100531taco_talk_kolbert
Politico: two political analysts (real degreed ones, from universities, who apparently wrote their own books; not your media flap-by types) dial it back on “The Myth of the Angry Voter.”
Alan Abramowitz and Larry Sabato:
” … Congressional incumbents of both parties are facing grave danger, the argument goes, as angry voters prepare to exact revenge at the polls.
This view of the midterms rests on three dubious claims. According to the political experts, public discontent is greater than at any time in recent memory, this discontent poses a serious threat to incumbents in primary elections, and the results of these primary races foretell far bigger problems for incumbents in November.
On closer inspection, however, none of these claims holds up. ”
So not an unusual number of angry voters, except for one group, that gets outsize attention from our media overlords.
Whocooditbee, and why, oh why?:
“One possible explanation for the popularity of the angry-voter meme is that while overall public discontent is not extraordinarily high, one group is extremely dissatisfied — Republicans.
Only 14 percent of Republicans are satisfied with the way things are going in America, according to Gallup, down from 26 percent in November 2008. The large majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents strongly disapprove of Obama’s performance as president.
It is irate Republicans who have been garnering most of the attention at town hall meetings and tea party rallies recently.”
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C68C6C84-18FE-70B2-A8AB8F461C20E82C
Something really to discuss:
Is the BP spill turning into Obama’s Katrina — a comparison that was ludicrous when first proposed?
But: slowish response to the spill (for many reasons, technical, legal and political — and governmental incompetence or indifference is not in the top 7 or 8, most likely), coupled with the myriad bad laws crippling effective response and accountability, brought to us by the best Congress any industry can buy …. and they do!
I don’t watch network news or cable, and will not, by choice. (Will start following BBC on this one though.)
My question: Aside from the enormous and tragic environmental impact:
Is this going to go down as government and Obama are so incompetent blah blah blah …?
This could really hurt in the midterms, where the “angry voter” is …. well, an angry Republican.
But the “it’s all Obama [administration]’s fault on slow response time and all oil industry ills” is an easy narrative for our crusading MSM, even if the real situation is much more complicated.
dog’s two cents: this might be too revealing of how the sausage is made, a la healthcare, where you had our lawmakers’ reelection prospects up against constituents’ very real needs and long-term best health.
The BP disaster is very likely Cheney’s Chernobyl, as someone called it, but it’s occurred 15 months into Obama’s first term, and you know lots of people think he owns this one, hook, line, sinker, sludgenet, dispersant, and dead wildlife.
Washington — Responding to growing criticism of his response to the gulf oil spill President Obama made an announcement today:
The “small government,” anti-environment, anti-nanny-staters who hate government getting involved in anything other than war, have been criticizing me for not doing more in getting the government more involved in the BP oil spill. They are correct, and I take complete responsibility for it. The reason I haven’t taken more action personally is because I have had something to hide. Something I believe was best hidden for our national security. But given the level of devastation, I believe it is time for me to take action, to reveal what I’ve been hiding, and let the chips fall where they may. So today I tell the American people, and citizens of the world that I, Barack Obama, am in fact, Aquaman. That’s right, Aquaman; member of the Justice League of America. As such I will go to the gulf, not for some presidential photo-op, but to swim down 5000′ and use my super-powers to seal the wellhead. I hope this satisfies my critics that I have personally not done enough to solve the problem.
Once the wellhead is sealed and the gulf saved, I realize the birthers will be asking anew questions as to the country of my birth, but so be it.
This just in: Woolworths has refused service to Tea Party members at their lunch counters.
“Cheney’s Chernobyl.” Sounds about right to me.
I personally think the term “Obama’s Katrina” is off base. The hurricane and oil spill were/are both disasters but with different causes and fixes. The first still hasn’t been fixed and the other is trying to be fixed (hopefully.) This administration has been involved since the first “Mayday” was sounded. The MSM often seems to cause more problems than they help solve.
A response on Huff Post sums up my feelings:
“This rhetoric of “this is Obama’s katrina is illogical and stupid. Hurricane damage is something
Emergency officials are used to dealing with,Bush chose to ignore the damage and did nothing to
Alleviate the situation until it was too late.
This oil spill is 5000 ft below the surface, and the only people equipped to deal with this are the oil company’s. Furthermore, Obama has appointed an investigative team to oversee things in addition to the coast Guard and EPA.
Let’s not become illogical, there are no parallels here.”
Thanks bev and dnd. Reassuring, but you’re both smarter than the average bear and thus not, um, average.
But hope you are right.
Funny re the Aquaman announcement. That comment belongs on some site that expects Obama the miracle worker, and nothing less than a miracle, each and every time.
HuffPost appears to be one …. there may be others, but got better things to do than search …
Let’s hope the new bridge doesn’t collapse! LOL
More neat pictures at:
http://scienceray.com/technology/engineering/the-amazing-hoover-dam-bypass-bridge-nears-completion/
Bev, are you planning to take a road trip to Nevada once the bridge is complete? Will there be a pedestrian bridge? I think walking across that would be awesome.
Good evening all.
Bev,
Thanks for the post and pics..Reminds of my many wonderful visits to Nevada..
Nanny,D,
On Sestak,
I don’t believe the administration would be so completely foolish to offer Joe a job in exchange for him not going up against A.Specter.Sestak was very wrong in even going public with his charge,unless of course he could prove it.All that said,this administration has been known to cut many an under the table deal. I have heard Joe Sestak interviewed many times and i like him and don’t miss Specter at all…
Dog,
I don’t believe the right wing talking point that this is Obama’s Katrina! I do wish the President would take complete control of the situation in the Gulf and do whatever he can do within the law to make BP do the right thing..If he keeps saying that BP is responsible and offers up only pretty tough words, they will fall hollow..Some of the suggestions Nanny gave on the previous thread should be implemented by the President now..
Yeah, I was wondering about a pedestrian bridge too.
Bev: come on down — or over (and eprof too). Will meet you on either side.
Have no plans for crossing at the present time. We did cross the dam about 2 yrs ago and saw the bridge construction. I’m sure it will be a big tourist attraction – maybe people will come to AZ too unless it’s declared illegal entry!
“Following BP’s Lead”
“President Obama should have taken charge of the response to the oil spill — which he called a “potentially unprecedented” environmental calamity — from jump street. He should have called in the very best minds and operatives from the corporate and scientific worlds and imposed an emergency plan of action — to be carried out by BP and all others who might be required. Instead, after all this time, after more than a month of BP’s demonstrated incompetence, the administration continues to dither.
Incredibly, until The Times blew the whistle in an article on Monday, environmental waivers were still being offered for oil drilling in the gulf. What will it take for sanity to prevail? How many people have to die or face ruin, and how much of nature has to be despoiled before we rein in the cowboys of these runaway corporations?”
D,
I know,opinion! Worth a look…
Tony,
Wow! That Bob Herbert sure is smart! I wonder why he’s not president instead of that slacker currently in the WH.
In fact, Herbert’s so smart, he knows the president has done all of those things he’s suggested, but that doesn’t make for a sensational column.
What the president hasn’t done is go on camera 24/7 explaining what he’s been doing and “putting his boot heel on BP’s throat.” The question is: should he?
Here’s today’s quiz:
Sarah Palin criticized the President citing his slow, inadequate response to the BP oil spill was because he’d been taking campaign money from the oil companies.
What oil company did Palin’s husband work for on Alaska’s North Slope?
top of the morning peeps
Disn’t Todd Palin work for BP, dnd?
Ding, ding, ding! Nannymm wins the prize!
Thank you! *Bows*
Greetings from the desert. Bev, nice article. I can’t wait for it to be finished as it will cut “sitting in the car waiting to get across Hoover dam with all the tourists time.” We go to LV about twice a year. The last couple of times we went through Searchlight (yes, the home of Harry Reid) and down into LV east side about ten or fifteen miles from downtown. We always wave at Harry’s house only about a 1/2 mile from the highway on the north side of Searchlight. We look to see how many new Ocotillos he’s planted as he says it keeps the rabbits out — LOL! Now, he’ll have to put in even more Ocotillos (Oh koh te ohs) to keep the chickens out, too. Laugh even louder!
LOL re this 1960 NY Times initial review of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
They hadn’t invented the term “spoiler alert” yet, hmm?
Miss Lee must have loved the reviewer’s providing the outcome of the Ewell v Robinson case and subsequent events. Maybe it ‘splains something about her further relations with the press.
Although the reviewer also twigged that TKAM might “be the basis for an excellent film.” Although no longer a suspense.
Click to access mock.review.pdf
NYT story: A Classic Turns Fifty, and Parties are Planned
Andy Borowitz with a possible solution to the BP leak: plug it with BP executives. (And yes, it’s been suggested by many wags.)
… “Best-case scenario, they plug the leak,” [the consultant] said. “And at the very least, they’ll shut the fuck up.”
But even as the oil leak experts proposed their unorthodox solution, environmental expert Marilyn Sufranski warned of the possible negative consequences of plugging the oil leak with BP executives.
“The Gulf of Mexico is slimy enough already,” she said.
http://www.borowitzreport.com
Vegas trip you say, eprof. Twice a year?
Hmmm…..
John Cole of Balloon Juice.
“What Exactly Are They Supposed to Do?” Long quote from blogpost about BP oil spill.
Cole: “I know that no matter what I say, some of you are going to claim I am shilling for Obama while others of you will read the same piece and claim I am unfairly attacking Obama, but I have a serious question- what exactly is the Obama administration supposed to do about the oil spill?
… I hear screams to “take over” the operations from BP. And do what? Is there some secret naval division that handles deep-sea drilling that we have not deployed? Does the government have some elite unit with better equipment than BP? I’m as pissed at them as anyone and want the government to make them pay for every penny of the clean-up, but I have to believe that all the people with experience fighting these things and all the equipment to deal with this sort of thing is already there with BP. And that if we “took over” from BP, it would still be the same people.In short, I just don’t know what kind of federal response there really could be to this kind of disaster.
In Katrina, the reason fro anger was clear- there were people who needed food, shelter, water, and medical treatment, things we have a lot of all over the country, and we just dropped the ball getting it to them. But with this- what are we supposed to do?
I suppose if someone can point to millions of feet of boom stockpiled in a government warehouse somewhere, or some sort of equipment the government has but is not using, then I could understand screaming about the federal response. But other than that, what do we expect them to do? FEMA and the Coast Guard don’t drill oil wells 5,000 feet underwater. … this is like one of those disaster movies where we have to come up with some plan to explode the comet before it hits the earth, except in this case, the comet has already hit the earth and Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman are fresh out of solutions.
And again, that is a real thing team Obama could do right now. Stop issuing permits, because until industry can demonstrate they can handle this sort of thing, we should just presume it is unsafe. Period.”
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/05/25/what-exactly-are-they-supposed-to-do/
dog: the BP spill is an opportunity wrapped in a disaster. If this tragedy gets us to look at the oil industry and its business as usual, we could see a lot of good out of this. Ultimately, and at an exorbitant cost.
Disasters like this may resonate more with the young, who are beginning their voting career.
Only silver lining I can see.
re Bev’s post:
While bridge’s official name is the O’Callaghan-Tillman Bridge, I was hoping that people would call it the Tillman Bridge.
And maybe they will.
Although, per wiki, Governor O’Callaghan was an incredibly good public servant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_O'Callaghan
I would think Pat Tillman would smile at being linked to him.
Fitting memorial.
*emerges from the salt mines*
Hey peeps, been keeping busy I see!
I’m going to enlist you all as proof readers for me, if you see any typos in the following page, and yes you have to look through all the links. (Think of it as “blog rent”) If you see any errors email me the info, tnx.
http://www.brianarens.com/jon/index.htm
ok all I found was in the “about” section. Lots of words there all are in some language that doesn’t exist. Ok I know it is just script just pulling your chain. 🙂
In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum[p][1][2] is the name given to commonly used placeholder text (filler text) to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document or visual presentation, such as font, typography, and layout. The lorem ipsum text, which is typically a nonsensical list of semi-Latin words, is an edited version of a Latin text by Cicero, with words/letters omitted and others inserted, but not proper Latin[1][2] (see below: History and discovery). A close English translation might be “pain itself” (dolorem = pain, grief, misery, suffering; ipsum = itself).
Even though using “lorem ipsum” often arouses curiosity because of its resemblance to classical Latin, it is not intended to have meaning. Where text is visible in a document, people tend to focus on the textual content rather than upon overall presentation, so publishers use lorem ipsum when displaying a typeface or design elements and page layout in order to direct the focus to the publication style and not the meaning of the text.[2]
Click on General Reel.
Comes up General “Real” on link.
Lowes may need apostrophe — if the home improvement store chain — it’s spelled Lowe’s on their website.
Only typos I saw.
Should confirm Snapple title is correctly spelled “Pampoloma”.
Good site, Brian. Very elegant and easy to navigate.
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tue, May 25, 2010 — 4:26 PM ET
—–
N.F.L. Chooses New York-New Jersey For 2014 Super Bowl Site
National Football League owners, lured by playing the sport’s
biggest game on the largest stage, combined with the promise
that snow would not grind the event to a halt, awarded the
2014 Super Bowl to New York on Tuesday afternoon, making the
New Meadowlands Stadium the host of what will be the first
cold-weather Super Bowl.
The New York-New Jersey bid beat out proposals from Tampa,
Fla., and South Florida — two traditional hosts — in part
to reward the Giants and the Jets for building a new
billion-dollar stadium together, a tactic the N.F.L. has used
when they have placed the game in Detroit, Dallas and
Indianapolis.
What the president hasn’t done is go on camera 24/7 explaining what he’s been doing and “putting his boot heel on BP’s throat.” The question is: should he?
D,
Hell yes he should be!! I agree,he hasn’t given a news conference in months,but he has been doing a lot of TV time talking tough and laying the blame on BP.Sorry,but i think its going to require firm leadership from him and hopefully not the lack of leadership he showed on healthcare..
I agree, Tony. Obama needs to get out there and lead. No matter what he may be doing behind the scenes (and I do believe he is involved) it is going to hurt him politically if he doesn’t get out there and let people see him and hear from him directly. He needs to show strength and leadership. A bit of anger directed at BP and the entire situation would be nice, too. He’s way too “cool” and detached.
New Thread
Agree with tony and nanny on the need to use the bully pulpit. And an axe. And whatever it takes …