Hoover Dam facts and comparisons
Hoover Dam is not a thin vertical landmark. Its scale comes from the combination of height, crest length, and an immense tapered concrete base.
Hoover Dam size comparisons
Hoover Dam is 726.4 feet, or 221.4 metres, high.
That is its structural height above the foundation, making it one of the clearest examples of a landmark whose vertical measurement needs engineering context.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Its crest stretches 1,244 feet across the Colorado River.
The 379-metre crest length is the horizontal dimension to use when describing the dam’s span from canyon wall to canyon wall.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
The dam is 45 feet wide at the top but 660 feet thick at the base.
That dramatic taper is the basic visual key to its thick-arch design and is more informative than calling it merely a concrete wall.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
The dam itself contains 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete.
The Bureau of Reclamation separately reports about 4.4 million cubic yards when associated works are included, so the scope must be named with the number.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
It spans the Arizona–Nevada line in Black Canyon.
Its location on the Colorado River is part of why the project is discussed as water storage, power, and transportation infrastructure rather than only as a monument.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Its 45-foot crest carries a road used by as many as 20,000 vehicles a day.
The traffic figure is an operational fact reported by the Bureau, not a fixed prediction of future use.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
