Highway 93 Revisited

One of the most exciting infrastructure projects of the past decade has just been completed over the precipitous canyon the Colorado River meanders through just below the Hoover Dam, near Las Vegas. The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Bridge (named for a late Nevada governor and Arizona's - and America's - most famous fatality of the Afghanistan War) spans the canyon at 1900 feet long and 88 feet wide, and should open soon. Its construction began in 2005 and is slated to open in October 2010 (this month).

The bridge is to become part of U.S. Route 93 and it bypasses the original thoroughfare built on the rim of the Hoover Dam. A right-of-way across a dam may sound novel, and it is, but when the road was integrated into the dam's design, the engineers had no idea that the it would become an important corridor. The dam was completed at the same time U.S. 93, which had terminated in Nevada, was extended into Arizona. Over the years, U.S. 93 became a major thoroughfare for passenger and commercial traffic.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (not to mention the Oklahoma City bombing before) led to the ban of trucks on the dam to prevent a terrorist attack on that facility, which would be catastrophic, given the electricity and water supply it generates for the Southwest. Once this bridge is open, trucks no longer have to cross the Colorado River by way of Needles, California (quite an inconvenient detour, you'll agree) to get from Phoenix to Las Vegas. (The old Hoover Dam route will be accessible by car only to people on the Nevada side of the river.)

This bridge is the best argument for the planned passenger railroad tunnel between New Jersey and New York City that New Jersey governor Chris Christie is ready to scuttle, likely as early as tomorrow. The bridge was built with national security in mind; no project in the New York area would do more to help our national interest. It would increase commuter railroad ridership and get more cars off the road, thus helping to lessen our dependence on foreign oil that largely comes from places where religiously fanatical commandos want to kill us. It would also help the environment and create new jobs, improving the Tristate region's well-being. Unfortunately, New Jersey is dealing with a governor who knows the price of everything (accounting for cost overruns) and the value of nothing.