After 9/11 Hoover Dam was closed to trucks so it wouldn't be blown up. Since then truck traffic has crossed the Colorado River south of us at Laughlin which is a longer & steeper route for the trucks. Enter NAFTA and the opening of the Canamex Corridors that carry trucks from Mexico across America and into Canada. One of these corridors goes thru our little town ~ our Brigadoon.
To accommodate the trucks (many double long) the Dam Bridge (aka Hoover Dam Bypass) has been completed in front of Hoover Dam so the trucks can once again cross the River near Hoover Dam. After crossing on the bridge the trucks will continue up a hill thru the lake side of town to be welcomed by a bottleneck at our business intersection where all of us go each day to the market, Starbucks, Postnet, etc. The Dam Bridge will be dedicated in October and the flow of 2000 trucks a day will start and build to an estimated 4000 trucks a day coming thru our little piece of Heaven. Other estimates put the flow at 6000 trucks a day. The government-funded Dam Bridge does NOT include a bypass around town. I guess our Senator Harry Reid (who lives a few miles away in Searchlight NV) didn't have enough power to send some of the Stimulus dollars our way. When I read about some of the non-essential areas the Stimulus dollars went instead it makes me cry.
Eight years ago there was a packed meeting at City Council with folks objecting to the Dam Bridge. Desi spoke at that council meeting saying he left Los Angeles because of traffic and didn't want to see BC become like LA. At that time none of us knew the Dam Bridge was already a done deal. We all found that out later. (Thank you powers-that-be.) We desperately love our little town, our Theatre and our lifelong friends who live here, but when BC becomes dangerously clogged with trucks, diesel fumes and accidents-waiting-to-happen, we're heading to the woods. Our hearts are broken. Boulder City, a National Treasure, is being thrown under the bus ~ or should I say under the trucks. We will never again see Hoover Dam in it's purity. From now on photos of Hoover Dam will all be obstructed by the Dam Bridge. I guess the Teamsters are a pretty powerful lobby.
Can't "progress" include love & consideration? Just because the trucks want to go faster does it mean a community has to be destroyed? Some say it won't be that bad ~ we say it will be worse. I'll have to trade in my Prius for a Tank just to be safe in-between the trucks. Here we are getting ready for Chautauqua to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Dedication of Hoover Dam by FDR. Who ever could have imagined all that has happened. I am very sad today. I love Boulder City. Senator Reid: Why didn't you rescue us?
xoxoAmy