Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

The Memorial Bridge carries US-93 over the Colorado River immediately downstream of Hoover Dam. The structure itself is striking — a long composite-concrete arch that was, when built, the longest of its kind in the western hemisphere — but the real reason to come is the pedestrian walkway along the upstream side, which gives the best free, head-on view of the dam.

You park at the Hoover Dam access road and walk across; the walkway is fully separated from the traffic by a high concrete wall. The view down to the dam, the lake behind it, and the canyon below is genuinely vertiginous. Allow about 20 minutes for the walk; bring water in summer.

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The bridge soars 270 metres above the Colorado River, making it the second-highest bridge in the United States. It opened in 2010 after years of bypass debate — pre-9/11, US-93 ran across the top of Hoover Dam itself, but security concerns and traffic demand forced the rerouting.

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