Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
US-93
Boulder City, NV
A concrete arch flung nine hundred feet above the Colorado River, and the only place to stand face to face with Hoover Dam.
For seventy-five years, every car crossing the Colorado River here had to creep over the top of Hoover Dam itself, a slow and increasingly fraught route after security concerns tightened. The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, opened in 2010, solved that by leaping the entire canyon in a single graceful arch several hundred feet downstream, carrying US Route 93 traffic high and fast over the river.
The bridge is named for Mike O'Callaghan, a former Nevada governor, and Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals safety who walked away from professional football to enlist after 2001 and was killed in Afghanistan. It is one of the tallest concrete arch bridges in the Western Hemisphere, and its greatest gift to a traveler is the walkway along its edge, which offers the finest view of Hoover Dam anywhere.
What Guests Love
- The head-on view of Hoover Dam from the pedestrian walkway, impossible to get anywhere else
- Looking straight down nearly nine hundred feet to the Colorado River
- The clean, modern engineering of the twin-rib concrete arch
- That it is free, quick, and pairs perfectly with a dam visit
Worth Knowing
- The walkway is reached from a parking lot on the Arizona side; cars cannot stop on the bridge itself
- It is high, open, and windy, so hold onto hats and mind small children
- There is almost no shade, so summer midday visits are punishing
- The walkway is separated from traffic, but the short climb up from the lot is uphill
Details
Boulder City, NV
Learn about Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
Why the bridge was built
Routing a major interstate highway across the crest of a working dam was never ideal, and after 2001 it became untenable. Traffic backed up, trucks were rerouted, and the dam faced real security worries. Planners settled on a bypass that would carry the road across Black Canyon just below the dam, keeping the crossing but moving it off the structure itself.
Construction began in the mid-2000s and was a serious engineering challenge in its own right, with crews building the twin concrete arch out from both canyon walls until the halves met in the middle high above the river. The bridge opened to traffic in 2010, and the old road over the dam became a quieter route reserved for dam visitors.
Standing on the walkway
The pedestrian walkway is the reason to stop. From the Arizona-side parking area you climb a series of ramps and stairs up to the deck, then walk out along the span with the dam filling the view upstream. You look straight down the face of Hoover Dam, take in the intake towers and the power plant, and trace the Colorado River as it threads out of the canyon far below.
It is an exposed, windy perch, and the drop is dizzying, but the perspective is unmatched. Interpretive plaques along the walkway explain the bridge and the dam, and on a clear day the light on the pale concrete and blue water is worth lingering for. Because there is no shade, the walk is far more pleasant in the morning or evening than at midday.
The setting
The bridge sits deep in the Mojave Desert, where bare, banded rock walls plunge to the river and the summer sun is relentless. Bighorn sheep sometimes appear on the slopes, and ravens and swifts ride the canyon air. Just upstream, Lake Mead stretches back for miles behind the dam, and the whole scene is a study in how much human ambition it took to hold this river in place.
Most travelers pair the bridge with Hoover Dam itself and with Boulder City, the historic town that housed the dam builders and that, uniquely for Nevada, has never permitted casinos.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Sands Motel of Boulder City
Honorable Mention809 Nevada Way, Boulder City, NV
6 miles away|Learn More ›
Things to Do Near Boulder City
Hoover Dam
Just upstream
The Depression-era engineering marvel the bridge was built to bypass; tours go inside to the power plant and the Art Deco interiors.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Adjacent
The largest US reservoir by volume, a desert boating and swimming destination behind the dam.
Boulder City
About 8 miles northwest
The tidy, casino-free town built for the dam workers, with a historic downtown and the Hoover Dam Museum.