Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Skywalk to afford unique canyon view

Glass walkway dream of local businessman

Businessman David Jin developed the idea of a glass walkway over the Grand Canyon nine years ago. The Skywalk at Grand Canyon West is scheduled to open to the public Jan 1. The pictures are an artist's rendering of the attraction. Photo by John Gurzinski. Click image for enlargement. Graphic by PAM KILLINSWORTH/REVIEW-JOURNAL

Imagine walking out over the Grand Canyon and staring 4,000 feet down into the Colorado River -- while standing on four inches of glass.

Back in 1996, local businessman David Jin dreamed up the idea for a glass walkway while on a tour of the canyon with his family.

Scheduled to open Jan. 1, the U-shaped structure, called The Skywalk at Grand Canyon West, juts about 70 feet into the canyon.

The walkway will be part of a tourist destination on the Hualapai Indian Reservation that includes Western- and Indian-themed villages and helicopter, pontoon and horseback rides.

"You enjoy the canyon, but if you can get out into it a little bit, it would be really, really awesome," Jin said.

Jin assembled a group of investors to fund the project, but he said he couldn't discuss the financial details other than to say the cost was "way more than even $10 million."

Sheri Yellowhawk, CEO of Grand Canyon Resort Corp., estimated the number of visitors to Grand Canyon West will increase by more than 250 percent, to 500,000 per year, because of the walkway. She said it will cost $25 to take a stroll on it.

Mark Johnson of Las Vegas-based MRJ Architects worked on the project. He said he was drawn by the plan's uniqueness.

"We stumbled on this project, and it was so wild we had to take a shot," Johnson said.

The walkway presented some unique engineering challenges.

The skywalk will be built with more than a million pounds of steel beams. It is designed to support the equivalent of 72 Boeing jets and withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake 50 miles away, said Allison Raskansky, Grand Canyon West spokeswoman.

The structural engineering was done by Las Vegas-based Lochsa Engineering, whose work includes Mandalay Bay and one of the Palms' towers, still under construction.

"One of the things that was challenging was designing the bridge for wind loads," said Kenneth (Bill) Carren Jr., engineer for Lochsa.

He said the skywalk was designed to withstand winds in excess of 100 mph. It also includes dampeners that minimize the structure's vibration. He said this is crucial in making visitors feel safe walking on it.

Carren said another challenge was minimizing the environmental impact of the walkway and the accompanying visitor's center, a requirement made by the Hualapai Tribe.

The visitor's center is being built to resemble the surrounding rock so it will blend into the landscape, Yellowhawk said.

Structurally, 2 1/2-inch-thick steel rods will be used to support the bridge and the building, Carren said. The small rods, he said, allow the structure to be removed without having to tear up the land.

"We had to figure out a foundation system that was strong but didn't impact the rock too much because the Indians were concerned about ripping up the rock," he said.

Yellowhawk said the hard part will be installing the steel beams, which will be completed by the end of August.

"After that, construction will just flow," she said.

About half of the elders opposed any development of the land, but the project's potential to draw tourists and spur economic development, essential for the nongaming tribe, eventually won over, she said.

"I was afraid it wasn't going to go through," she said of the project's chances for approval.