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HOOVER DAM BYPASS PROJECT
HISTORY OF HOOVER DAM AND THE BYPASS PROJECT
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Hoover Dam
Before the existence of Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and Hoover Dam, the area encompassing the one and a half million acres of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area was occupied by early desert Indian cultures, adventurous explorers, and ambitious pioneers looking for cheap land and religious freedom, and prospectors seeking riches.
Based on archaeological evidence, several Native American cultures have been identified as having existed 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in an environment wetter and cooler than it is today, where they hunted game, gathered local edible plants and practiced farming. In a cave near present-day Lake Mead, the remains of large mammals were discovered by archaeologist Mark R.Harrington and paleontologist James Thurston including: ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis), horse (Equus sp.), camel (Camelops sp.) and mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis). Notches found on the bones of animals located in that primitive dwelling show evidence that they were prepared and eaten by humans.
Early explorers traveling from Utah to California crossed through the region over land and water. In search of areas rich in animal furs for trade, Jedediah Smith traversed the Virgin and Colorado rivers in 1826 and 1827, encountering the early Indians who lived along the river banks.
In 1855, Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives traveled the lower Colorado River in search of safe and efficient passage upon the steamship, Explorer. Following Ives, John Wesley Powell continued exploration of the upper Colorado River from the Grand Canyon to where it meets the Virgin River. Powell became a noted historian of the region.
The southwestern desert with its arid environment was a most inhospitable environment in which to live. For centuries the early native inhabitants living along the Colorado River found innovative ways to irrigate small agricultural plots. The region became more and more populated by white settlers with the advent of rail transportation and the discovery of gold and silver in the mountains of southern Nevada. Mormon pioneers established communities and prospectors established mining claims up and down the river.
Visionaries desiring continued westward expansion sought to discover ways to harness the power of the river to allow for large-scale irrigation and other industries. Thus, the concept of building a dam was born.
The Reclamation Act of 1902 thus instituted the construction of Boulder Dam, later to be named Hoover Dam which began in1931.
The reservoir created by the damming of the Colorado River became Lake Mead, named after Elwood Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner at the time. The newly formed lake drew thousands of visitors to this wondrous contrast of desert and water. Lake Mead National Recreation Area became the first national recreation area in 1964. Today, millions of visitors each year come to enjoy the many recreational opportunities found within the park’s diverse landscape.
Why the Bypass
The present route of U.S. 93 uses the top of Hoover Dam to cross the Colorado River. U.S. Highway 93 is the major commercial corridor between the states of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah; it is also on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) route between Mexico and Canada. U.S. 93 was identified as a high priority corridor in the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995. The traffic congestion caused by the inadequacy of the existing highway across the dam imposes a serious economic burden on the states of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
The traffic volumes, combined with the sharp curves on U.S. 93 in the vicinity of Hoover Dam, create a potentially dangerous situation. A major catastrophe could occur, involving innocent bystanders, millions of dollars in property damage to the dam and its facilities, contamination of the waters of Lake Mead or the Colorado River, and interruption of the power and water supply for people in the Southwest.
By developing an alternate crossing of the river near Hoover Dam, through-vehicle and truck traffic would be removed from the top of the dam. This new route would eliminate the problems with the existing roadway--sharp turns, narrow roadways, inadequate shoulders, poor sight distance, and low travel speeds.
The purpose of the project is to accomplish the following objectives:
Minimize the potential for pedestrian-vehicle accidents on the dam crest and on the Nevada and Arizona approaches to the dam.
Remove a major bottleneck to interstate and international commerce and travel in the west by reducing traffic congestion and accidents in this segment of the major commercial route between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Replace an inadequate highway river crossing with a new crossing that meets current roadway design criteria and improves through-vehicle and truck traffic capacity on U.S. 93 at the dam.
Reduce travel time in the dam vicinity.
Protect Hoover Dam employees, visitors, equipment, power generation capabilities and Colorado River waters, while enhancing the visitors’ experience at Hoover Dam by:
Safeguarding dam and power plant facilities and the waters of Lake Mead and the Colorado River from hazardous spills or explosions.
Protecting the dam and power plant facilities from interruptions in electricity and water delivery.
Providing improved conditions for operating and maintaining Hoover Dam facilities.
The Bypass
Under the stewardship of CFLHD, the Hoover Bypass Project was rekindled and the federally mandated environmental review process resumed. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our country's basic charter for protection of the environment, provides a framework for federal agencies to build projects like the Hoover Dam Bypass, while taking into account environmental factors. Examples of environmental factors include wildlife, noise, public safety, public service, air quality, and traffic circulation. The environmental process for the Hoover Dam Bypass Project followed the NEPA process ultimately leading to a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and a Record of Decision (ROD).
CFLHD studied four alternatives (including the "no-build" alternative) to determine the best crossing of the river from an engineering standpoint, while creating the least amount of impact to the surrounding environment. CFLHD completed the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in September 1998, with the cooperation of the Nevada Department of Transportation, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public hearings were held in Kingman, Boulder City and Las Vegas in October 1998. Through an open forum, CFLHD solicited comments from experts in the field of transportation, environmental groups, regulatory agencies, and members of surrounding communities. Formal consultation with the Fish & Wildlife Service, Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and the State Historic Preservation Officers helped define mitigation measures to be incorporated into the project. Additional comments and mitigation measures were addressed in the FEIS issued in January 2001.
A Project Management Team (PMT) was developed to oversee the design and construction of the project. The PMT has representation from each of the major project stakeholders including the Federal Highway Administration, the States of Arizona and Nevada, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), the Western Area Power Authority (WAPA) and the National Park Service (NPS). CFLHD has the lead management role for all elements of project procurement, design and construction.
