The Birth of a Modern Marvel

The bypass bridge was built in part for national-security reasons -- the Hoover Dam is thought to be our nation's most vulnerable landmark. [Photo by Jamey Stillings]

(By Stephen Fried, Parade.com) - The first time I saw the Hoover Dam, more than 15 years ago, I remember thinking that anyone who really wants to understand America needs to see it. I’d been exposed to images of the dam my whole life—in history books, in movies—but nothing can prepare you for its size, beauty, and audaciousness in person. The most ambitious and resonant public-works project in the U.S., it boosted the nation’s spirit during the Depression, provided the irrigation and power that nurtured the West, and inspired generations of big dreamers.

When I visited the dam again recently, I gazed upon something equally breathtaking: the new concrete-arch bridge that sits a quarter-mile downstream on the Colorado River. Appropriately modern, the dramatic span resembles nothing more than a massive emoticon: a wide dash atop a sideways parenthesis wedged between the jagged canyon walls. And while the bridge was built to protect national security—by routing vehicles away from the vulnerable dam—and ease traffic, the timing of its completion has turned it into a spectacular 75th birthday present to the Hoover Dam (which President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated on Sept. 30, 1935).