Hoover Dam amazes

Hoover Dam from the front, as seen from a site the public doesn't get to visit anymore.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

HOOVER DAM--There's not a lot I can say about Hoover Dam in a blog entry. So, I'll be posting a full story and photo gallery within a day or two.

But after a private, four-hour behind-the-scenes tour given to me Friday by Robert Walsh, external affairs officer for the Lower Colorado Region of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation--part of my Road Trip 2007 around the Southwest--I am still kind of speechless.

The dam, not even the biggest of its kind in the United States (that would be Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state) is just stunning. It was, and still is, a wonder of human engineering, and something that continues to be one of the most important elements in the West's economic vitality as well as its life force.

The project to build a new bridge bypass around the Dam is delayed due to an accident.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

So, this is just to give you advance warning that you should stay tuned for my story and photos. I will discuss the governor's plans for how to deal with continued drought in the Colorado River region, as well as plans for the new bridge bypassing the dam that will get thousands of cars and trucks off of it.