[chgodon]

I'm in CA and Vegas. A friend of mine will be in Phoenix. I want him to drive
to Orange County to meet me, but he wants to drive to Vegas to meet me.
Meeting me in Vegas will allow him to see the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.
He's not going on any tours but thinks he'll see the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam
driving to Vegas. He's leaving Phoenix around 3:00 pm on a Thursday after day light's savings.

Question is will he get a glimpse these two landmarks driving to Vegas? If not, how far
off the beaten path will he have to go to see it?

[johninvegas]

Tell your friend to buy a map.

He'll be able to see Hoover Dam if he pulls off the highway and goes over to it on the access road. You can't see the dam from the 95 bridge.

As for the Grand Canyon, if he takes 17 up to I-40 he'll then only be about a couple of hours from the canyon. You have to drive north from either Flagstaff or Williams to get to the south rim.

So the short answer is, No.

[chgodon]

Thanks for reply. I accedently posted on Vegas forum. Had to post on Arizona
forum. Your highway info is good.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by johninvegas

Tell your friend to buy a map.

He'll be able to see Hoover Dam if he pulls off the highway and goes over to it on the access road. You can't see the dam from the 95 bridge.

As for the Grand Canyon, if he takes 17 up to I-40 he'll then only be about a couple of hours from the canyon. You have to drive north from either Flagstaff or Williams to get to the south rim.

So the short answer is, No.

Why can't he see the dam from the Hoover Dam bypass bridge? You can glimpse it from the car if you don't stop, but you can also park at the end of the bridge and walk out on it, via the walkway of course, not the highway.

And, if he's not leaving Phoenix until 3:00pm it would be dark at the Canyon by the time he got there. Maybe he can see it with more time on the way back. He might even want to leave time to go through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona on the way from the Grand Canyon.

[demoknite]

The walls on the bridge were made high enough so people dont gawk and get distracted by the dam causing traffic nightmares. Normal passenger cars and trucks cant see it. Im not sure about 18 wheelers.

[WildWestDude]

Phoenix and Las Vegas are the last major cities in the US not connected by an interstate but that will soon change with the construction of I-11. The Boulder City bypass is considered the start of that major project which in itself starts this spring.

Interstate 11 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[swagger]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

Phoenix and Las Vegas are the last major cities in the US not connected by an interstate

What? Can you rephrase that so that it make more sense? There are a lot of cities that aren't directly connected by interstates, and both of those cities you mentioned DO have at least one interstate running through them.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by swagger

What? Can you rephrase that so that it make more sense? There are a lot of cities that aren't directly connected by interstates, and both of those cities you mentioned DO have at least one interstate running through them.

I believe it's the two largest NEIGHBORING cities not connected by an interstate highway. I've also seen it described as the two largest metro areas of 1 million or more each that are not connected by interstate highway(s). They each have interstates running through them, but the interstates don't get you directly from one to the other.

[swagger]

That's a silly reason to build a freeway. I'm not against them building it, but "because there isn't one" isn't/shouldn't be a good enough reason to take peoples' land away and spend billions of our dollars.

I've read a few articles in RJ about it, and they think they're going to get more gaming revenue from the folks in Phoenix. I'm not sure I buy that - it's not like the two cities aren't connected (there's a perfectly good US highway connecting them). If the Phoenixians wanted to come here to gamble, they would.

From a commercial vehicle (trucking) perspective, once they built the bypass, it hasn't been that big a deal to not have an interstate connecting them. Even before then, the detour through Laughlin wasn't that bad.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by swagger

That's a silly reason to build a freeway. I'm not against them building it, but "because there isn't one" isn't/shouldn't be a good enough reason to take peoples' land away and spend billions of our dollars.

I've read a few articles in RJ about it, and they think they're going to get more gaming revenue from the folks in Phoenix. I'm not sure I buy that - it's not like the two cities aren't connected (there's a perfectly good US highway connecting them). If the Phoenixians wanted to come here to gamble, they would.

From a commercial vehicle (trucking) perspective, once they built the bypass, it hasn't been that big a deal to not have an interstate connecting them. Even before then, the detour through Laughlin wasn't that bad.

I don't think it's a great reason, either. But, it keeps coming up in the articles about it, in one form or another. I agree that with the bypass, travel between the two cities got a lot easier, along with the widening of 93. That road was a two lane nightmare. I'm old enough to remember all the white crosses along that road back when the AZ transportation department used to mark highway fatalities that way.