CEAC-2021-07-July

Official: Repairs to Interstate Bridge
Could Take Months
By Adrian Sainz, Jill Bleed and Andrew DeMillo | Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Repairs to the Interstate 40 bridge
linking Arkansas and Tennessee could take months after a
crack was found in the span, forcing thousands of trucks and
cars to detour and shutting down shipping on a section of
the Mississippi River, a transportation official recently said.
A congressional Democrat from Tennessee flagged the crack
as a warning sign of the urgent need to act on fixes to the
nation’s infrastructure. Republican U.S. senators also pointed
out the need for infrastructure spending while criticizing
Biden’s plan.
The six-lane bridge into Memphis was recently shut down
after inspectors found a “significant fracture” in one of
two 900-foot horizontal steel beams that are crucial for the
bridge’s integrity, said Lorie Tudor, director of the Arkansas
Department of Transportation.
Both states’ transportation agencies said they would make
sure the 48-year-old, 1.8-mile bridge is safe before reopening.
“This fracture had the potential of becoming a catastrophic
event that was prevented by our staff’s diligent effort in
managing our bridge inspection program,” Tudor said.
Traffic was being rerouted to Interstate 55 and the 71-yearold
Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, about 3 miles south.
River traffic was also shut down in the Memphis area until
further notice, the Tennessee Department of Transportation
said. At the time of this report, the U.S. Coast Guard said 16
tugboats hauling more than 220 barges were waiting in line.
At least four tugs attached to barges sat idle near a boat
ramp at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, about 20 miles
north of the bridge.
The closure is creating traffic congestion in Memphis and in
neighboring West Memphis, Arkansas. DeWayne Rose, West
Memphis’ emergency manager, said officials there are using
contingency plans to get trauma patients to facilities in
Memphis or to other nearby hospitals.
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“People around this area are used to lane closures, they’re
used to construction, they’re used to shutdowns, and I think
everyone is just a little on edge because of the uncertainty
of the time frame of this,” Rose said.
Road crews were poised to remove any cars that crash or
otherwise become stuck on the four-lane I-55 bridge. The
next nearest Mississippi River crossings are about 60 miles to
the south near Lula, Mississippi, and 100 miles to the north
near Dyersburg, Tennessee.
Inspectors were working to determine if the I-40 bridge
could hold its own weight and the weight of construction
crews, said Paul Degges, chief engineer for the Tennessee
transportation department. Barge traffic will not resume
until engineers decide that the bridge can stand on its own,
he said.
Pinpointing those factors could take days, and the repairs
could last much longer, Degges said.
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