The Skywalk at Grand Canyon is a new attraction being built at Grand Canyon West, 120 miles east of Las Vegas on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. It's a horseshoe-shaped footbridge that extends a whopping 70 feet out over the edge of the canyon, 4,000 dizzying feet above the Colorado River.
Is it safe, you're wondering? Well, Lochsa Engineering in Las Vegas helped design the support structure, which is cantilevered at the top of the cliff, with 94 steel rods boring 46 feet into the limestone rockface. More than a million pounds of steel is going into its construction, which includes dampeners that minimize the structure’s vibration. For further support, the floor is made of three-inch-thick heat-strengthened glass and enclosed by five-foot-tall glass walls.
When it's completed, the Skywalk will be able to accommodate up to 140 people at a time. There’s no weight limit, however, since the Skywalk can support 71 million pounds. (In fact, last month, the final weight test was conducted and the structure passed engineering requirements by 400%, enabling it to withstand the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747s).
The bridge will also be able to sustain winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from eight different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. (This is necessary because the vertical winds in the canyon are unique, whipping upward at 90 miles an hour with the force of a tornado.)
And, as if that's not all, there are (vague) plans to turn a maintenance car designed to run along a track underneath the Skywalk into a trolley ride for very brave visitors.
Skywalk is expected to open by the end of this year; admission will be $25 or so per person.
