What to Expect Visiting Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is one of the world’s modern structural wonders. The dam, bridging Arizona and Nevada provides energy to much of the Western United States. Over the years, a trip to Hoover Dam has changed. We’ll show you what you can expect visiting Hoover Dam.
Hoover Dam Basics
Construction of the dam took place during the Great Depression. The building commenced in 1931 and finished in 1936. The construction brought jobs to many. The dam also birthed the town of Boulder City, Nevada and formed Lake Mead (now a national recreation area and and part of the U.S. National Park Service).
The structure reaches 726 feet high and spans 1,244 feet. The tower contains 4.4 million cubic yards of concrete. The hydroelectric power generated provides electricity to much of Southern California. Some electric power is also siphoned to Nevada and Arizona.
About 7 million people visit Hoover Dam annually.
Getting to Hoover Dam
Las Vegas is the closest metropolitan city to the Hoover Dam. The drive time from Las Vegas to Hoover Dam takes about 45 minutes.
That’s a lot shorter time from when I first visited the Dam as a teenager. The drive time was then about two hours. But, as Las Vegas grows, highway construction has also improved, creating new roads and quicker trips to the site.
Once leaving the interstate highway, you’ll drive through Boulder City, which developed in the 1930s as a town for builders to stay while working on dam construction. After leaving Boulder City, you wind through a few switchback roads with lots of turns. You also pass through a roundabout.
Changes to Hoover Dam
In the past, US 93 was the highway everyone took to cross from Arizona into Nevada, or vice versa. That meant everyone going from Kingman, Arizona to Las Vegas crossed the Hoover Dam. It was the only route.
However, after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, security measures restricted traffic over the dam. First, security checkpoints were placed.
Finally, access to the dam was cut off from the Arizona side.
Today, you must exit US 93 and take Nevada State Route 172 to access Hoover Dam. While you can still cross over the structure and explore from the Arizona side, through-traffic from Arizona is no more.
All of these security precautions help keep visitors safe while exploring the Hoover Dam.
What Can You See Approaching Hoover Dam?
After parking around the dam (closer parking spots are $10, further spots are free but require a hike), you can walk to and over the dam.
On one side of the structure. you’ll find the Colorado River water making its way to the dam. You’ll also see water line marker on the concrete edifices. Sadly, the water line has significantly decreased since the 1980s, and the nearby spillways are exposed. No water covers these spillways. It is a visual reminder that water is an important and scarce commodity in the desert west. Legal battles over water rights for indigenous peoples and other groups are ongoing. Seeing the empty spillways is a sad reminder that these legal battles are extremely important to the future of the American west.
From this side you see the intake towers too.
What You Can See on Hoover Dam
As you walk closer to the dam itself, you spot clocks on both the Nevada and Arizona sides. Arizona does not do daylight savings time, so half of the year, the clocks read the same time. But during those winter months, the clocks will tell different times.
At the dam, you can look down into the ravine, spotting powerhouses on both the Nevada and Arizona sides.. As you stand on the dam, you feel shaking as the water works down through the dam. You also hear a constant humming as the water creates the hydroelectric power.
The visitors center is a nice spot to learn a little about the construction of the dam. From here, you can book tours to go into the dam, and view the massive structure from the lower ravine and powerhouse platforms.
There also are sculptures near the dam, including the sculpture of a dog. This stray dog adopted the construction crew during building and became a revered friend of the workers. The dog tragically lost its life and was immortalized by those workers.
What You’ll See Around Hoover Dam
Finally, in the distance you can see the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. The 890-foot tall arch bridge is the new, alternative route on US 93, crossing the Nevada and Arizona State Lines.
You can drive from the dam up the Arizona hill side. The road will end, but you have turnouts, providing different view points of Hoover Dam.
There are also turnouts on the Nevada side providing more viewing opportunities.
And you can walk along the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge for a different perspective and viewing.
Learn More About Hoover Dam
Before our road trip to Hoover Dam, our family downloaded the Shaka Guide Tour of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. We like the Shaka Guides because they provide entertaining and informative audio stories of the sites.
The Shaka Guide uses GPS technology to pinpoint your auto location and then provides an audio story. While driving to Hoover Dam, our family learned a lot about the construction, the founding of Boulder City, the stories of workers and the companion stray dog, and where to park at the site.
We have used the Shaka Guide on many of our recent trips and highly recommend the guides. In general, we learn a lot while listening and often learn a few insider tips along the way.
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