The number of people visiting the famed Hoover Dam is on the decline, according to a newspaper report.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, there were 720,167 paid visits to the Hoover Dam in 2015. While that is an increase from the 695,678 paid visits in 2014, it is down from the 823,397 paid visits in 2011, the newspaper reported.
Experts interviewed by the newspaper indicated the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge could play a role in the decline in visitor numbers. The 1,900-foot-long opened in 2010.
“My first thought is people are taking the bridge and speeding on by. There are fewer people who are making Hoover Dam a destination,” the newspaper quoted Dennis McBride, a Boulder City native and historian, as saying. “We’re going to see the same thing happen in Boulder City when they open the bypass there.”