Grand Canyon Skywalk opens March 28
An amazing engineering feat, the outdoor adventurist and all-around thrill seeker will soon be able to walk on a glass floor at Arizona’s west rim of the Grand Canyon some 4,000 feet above the Colorado River.
Skywalk construction began in March 2004.
Last May engineering tests proved the bridge could hold more than 71 million pounds, or the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes. But the plan is to only allow 120 people at a time. It was designed to withstand winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from eight different directions or an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles.
More than one million pounds of steel have gone into the Skywalk’s construction.
For about $25 a person you’ll get to take the vertigoed walk in the sky. Visitors will be provided with shoe covers to protect them from slipping and to prevent scratching of the three-inch-thick glass floor.
The Skywalk is part of a larger scheme to eventually include a museum, movie theater, VIP lounge, gift shop and several restaurants including a high-end restaurant called The Skywalk Café where visitors will be able to dine outdoors at the canyon's rim. According to Hualapai officials, the cost of the Skywalk alone will exceed $40 million.
The tribe hopes to build a 9,000-acre development called Grand Canyon West along the canyon's South Rim and include hotels, restaurants, a golf course and a cable car to ferry visitors from the canyon rim to the Colorado River.
To visit the Skywalk from Las Vegas you’ll travel 121 miles.
Directions:
Go south on US-93 towards Phoenix for 32 miles
Go over Hoover Dam and continue south on US-93 for 40 miles
Turn left (north) on Pierce Ferry Road and travel for 28 miles
Turn right (east) on Diamond Bar Road and travel for 21 miles
Diamond Bar Road ends at Grand Canyon West Airport, the only entrance to Grand Canyon West.
Parking at the airport is free.
Approximate travel time is 2 hours and 30 minutes
View CNN’s March 8 report on the Skywalk.
