What to See in Boulder City - Top Sights and Attractions

Arch bridge in Clark County, Nevada. The Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is an arch bridge in the United States that spans the Colorado River between the states of Arizona and Nevada. The bridge is located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area approximately 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, and carries Interstate 11 and U.S. Route 93 over the Colorado River. Opened in 2010, it was the key component of the Hoover Dam Bypass project, which rerouted US 93 from its previous routing along the top of Hoover Dam and removed several hairpin turns and blind curves from the route. It is jointly named for Mike O'Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1979, and Pat Tillman, an American football player who left his career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 by friendly fire.

As early as the 1960s, officials identified the US 93 route over Hoover Dam to be dangerous and inadequate for projected traffic volumes. From 1998 to 2001, officials from Arizona, Nevada, and several federal government agencies collaborated to determine the best routing for an alternative river crossing. In March 2001, the Federal Highway Administration selected the route, which crosses the Colorado River approximately 1,500 feet (460 m) downstream of Hoover Dam. Construction of the bridge approaches began in 2003, and construction of the bridge itself began in February 2005. The bridge was completed in 2010 and the entire bypass route opened to vehicle traffic on October 19, 2010. The Hoover Dam Bypass project was completed within budget at a cost of $240 million; the bridge portion cost $114 million.

The bridge was the first concrete-steel composite deck arch bridge built in the United States, and incorporates the widest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere. At 890 feet (270 m) above the Colorado River, it is the second highest bridge in the United States after the Royal Gorge Bridge near Cañon City, Colorado, and is the world's highest concrete arch bridge.^[1]

Cemetery. The Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery is located in Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada. Established in 1990, the 79-acre cemetery is approximately 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. This is one of two state operated Veterans Cemeteries, the other is the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery 437 miles away in Fernley, Nevada. The cemetery was constructed to serve Military Veterans and their families. The nearest Veterans Memorial Cemetery to Boulder City Nevada is the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside California, about 245 miles from the Las Vegas Valley.

As of December 2014, 42,964 veterans and family members (spouses) are interred at one of the two Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemeteries located in either Fernley or Boulder City, Nevada. The cemeteries at both locations were built and expanded using grants awarded by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Each state is responsible for operating each of their Veterans Cemeteries after the VA assists with the construction. The State of Nevada provides staff and operating costs to oversee the facility and is supported by a VA.^[3]