Infrastructure: I-40 Bridge between TN and AR is Cracked

[Deleted]

It’s the “new” bridge over the Mississippi River, connecting West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee. Locals still call it the new bridge even though it’s been there for decades. It’s a major highway that gets a lot of traffic.

During an inspection Tuesday, engineers found the crack, and it was serious enough that traffic was immediately stopped from going over the bridge. I happened to be in Memphis Tuesday and traffic was backed up, pretty much at a standstill, for miles and miles on the highway going through Memphis toward the bridge. Fortunately for me, I was traveling in the other direction at the time. 

Vehicle traffic traveling between the 2 states is being rerouted to the “old” bridge. Yesterday a truck driver posted a video of how traffic was backed up for miles into Memphis, this time on a major street that leads to the highway, with people trying to cross the old bridge.

As of today, there are over 200 barges stopped on the river, as they are not allowing them to travel under the bridge. Major problem for shipping and commerce.  And they are saying it could take months to repair. The news called it a crack, it looks more like a break to me from the pictures that were released. I wonder what halting traffic on the river means for the economy.

Scary! And the reason I’m nervous about bridges. When I was a child, we were on a road trip and I saw a bridge that had collapsed and I’ve been nervous about them ever since.

Memphis is kind of the problem child for Tennessee for a few reasons. I bet the Republican Governor wishes he could just throw Memphis away lol.

How many years now have people been yelling that the infrastructure throughout the country needs attention?

[gs11rmb]

How long until someone starts saying that it's a Biden ploy to push through his infrastructure plan  .

I don't like bridges either so I'm very glad that they get inspected.

[Tennesseer]

May 13, 2021 12:01:37 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

It’s the “new” bridge over the Mississippi River, connecting West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee. Locals still call it the new bridge even though it’s been there for decades. It’s a major highway that gets a lot of traffic.

During an inspection Tuesday, engineers found the crack, and it was serious enough that traffic was immediately stopped from going over the bridge. I happened to be in Memphis Tuesday and traffic was backed up, pretty much at a standstill, for miles and miles on the highway going through Memphis toward the bridge. Fortunately for me, I was traveling in the other direction at the time. 

Vehicle traffic traveling between the 2 states is being rerouted to the “old” bridge. Yesterday a truck driver posted a video of how traffic was backed up for miles into Memphis, this time on a major street that leads to the highway, with people trying to cross the old bridge.

As of today, there are over 200 barges stopped on the river, as they are not allowing them to travel under the bridge. Major problem for shipping and commerce.  And they are saying it could take months to repair. The news called it a crack, it looks more like a break to me from the pictures that were released. I wonder what halting traffic on the river means for the economy.

Scary! And the reason I’m nervous about bridges. When I was a child, we were on a road trip and I saw a bridge that had collapsed and I’ve been nervous about them ever since.

Memphis is kind of the problem child for Tennessee for a few reasons. I bet the Republican Governor wishes he could just throw Memphis away lol.

How many years now have people been yelling that the infrastructure throughout the country needs attention?

To be fair, the design of the bridge and building of it was by Arkansas and its contractors.

[Tennesseer]

May 13, 2021 12:11:08 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

How long until someone starts saying that it's a Biden ploy to push through his infrastructure plan  .

I don't like bridges either so I'm very glad that they get inspected.

Probably real soon.

On Facebook, my ex-sister-in-law is blaming Biden for the cybersecurity breach and ransomeware demand of the Colonial pipeline. She states the Russians would never had done that if trump was reelected.

[minnesotapaintlady]

May 13, 2021 12:11:08 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

How long until someone starts saying that it's a Biden ploy to push through his infrastructure plan  .

I don't like bridges either so I'm very glad that they get inspected.

For the most part bridges don't bother me, but I can't go across the I35 bridge in Minneapolis without getting the willies.  All I can see is that school bus hanging off the side over the river.

[movingforward]

Some of the really high overpasses where I live give me the creeps. I always envision some car going over the edge.

[Tennesseer]

Not bothered too much about driving over bridges. Walking across bridges is another story even though I have walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and the Taos, New Mexico Bridge over the Rio Grande.

The picture below is the Taos, New Mexico Bridge. Not only have I walked across it, I have white-water rafted under it. Looking up from the river, the Bridge looks pretty small.

[Lizard Queen]

May 13, 2021 12:35:45 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Not bothered too much about driving over bridges. Walking across bridges is another story even though I have walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and the Taos, New Mexico Bridge over the Rio Grande.

The picture below is the Taos, New Mexico Bridge. Not only have I walked across it, I have white-water rafted under it. Looking up from the river, the Bridge looks pretty small.

I am very familiar with that bridge. My last boyfriend before my husband had a lot not too far beyond that bridge. Lived in a giant teepee on that lot for about a month while he started building a tiny strawbale house. That place was mixture of hippie and wild, wild west.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Planning to take the kids on a stroll across this one in a few weeks.  Carrot will go into cardiac arrest.  I actually drove across it 20 years ago driving a 3/4 ton truck pulling a camper!  It took up almost the entire width and the "dunk dunk dunk dunk" sound of the wheels going over the wooden floor made it even more exciting.  LOL

[azucena]

I've been feeling like the US's infrastructure as a whole is deteriorating but we keep spending tax money in other ways and ignoring it.

Surely there's been technology than concrete and asphalt too.  The number of potholes after every winter should prompt someone to figure it out.

[Tennesseer]

May 13, 2021 12:40:37 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

May 13, 2021 12:35:45 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Not bothered too much about driving over bridges. Walking across bridges is another story even though I have walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and the Taos, New Mexico Bridge over the Rio Grande.

The picture below is the Taos, New Mexico Bridge. Not only have I walked across it, I have white-water rafted under it. Looking up from the river, the Bridge looks pretty small.

I am very familiar with that bridge. My last boyfriend before my husband had a lot not too far beyond that bridge. Lived in a giant teepee on that lot for about a month while he started building a tiny strawbale house. That place was mixture of hippie and wild, wild west.

My sister and one of her sons and his family live in Taos. Beautiful area of a beautiful state.

One Christmas while visiting my sister and her family in Taos for the holiday I went to the Taos Pueblo for their Christmas eve services. Church services within the Pueblo were for the Pueblo residents only. But once the church services were over, a religious procession exited the church carrying a large statue of Mary and baby Jesus. Rifles shot into the air and bonfires throughout the Pueblo. Pretty neat.

[Deleted]

May 13, 2021 12:35:45 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Not bothered too much about driving over bridges. Walking across bridges is another story even though I have walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and the Taos, New Mexico Bridge over the Rio Grande.

The picture below is the Taos, New Mexico Bridge. Not only have I walked across it, I have white-water rafted under it. Looking up from the river, the Bridge looks pretty small.

The Lake Ponchartrain Causeway going into New Orleans really, really wrecks my nerves. It’s almost 24 miles ling IIRC. It almost feels like you’re crossing an ocean, because for so long, there’s no end in sight. The first time I crossed it, I wasn’t driving, and deliberately went to sleep in the backseat before we got to it.

One time I went to New Orleans with somebody that knew I was afraid of bridges. We were out sightseeing and I look up and we were at the entrance to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway even though he KNEW I didn't want to go across it. I got so upset and angry, I almost cried. And of course, once we finally got across it, we had to come back. That was the end of the fun, I raised hell with him for the rest of the trip. 

[Lizard Queen]

Going across the Mackinac bridge creeps me out. It's 5 miles long, and the center lanes are grates.
www.mlive.com/travel/2016/11/happy_birthday_mackinac_bridge.html

[Tennesseer]

May 13, 2021 12:43:00 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Planning to take the kids on a stroll across this one in a few weeks.  Carrot will go into cardiac arrest.  I actually drove across it 20 years ago driving a 3/4 ton truck pulling a camper!  It took up almost the entire width and the "dunk dunk dunk dunk" sound of the wheels going over the wooden floor made it even more exciting.  LOL

I see train tracks along side the river. Where is this bridge?

[Deleted]

May 13, 2021 12:49:52 GMT -5 azucena said:

I've been feeling like the US's infrastructure as a whole is deteriorating but we keep spending tax money in other ways and ignoring it.

Surely there's been technology than concrete and asphalt too.  The number of potholes after every winter should prompt someone to figure it out.

I agree.

I also wonder if the “old” bridge where traffic is being rerouted can handle the amount of traffic it’s getting now. Besides the people traveling through the area and all the tractor trailers that come that way going through or into/out of Memphis, quite a few people live in Arkansas and work in Memphis, so go back and forth daily. 

And I have no idea of the amount of goods that are transported on the Mississippi, but if over 200 barges are already stopped, it can’t be good.

[minnesotapaintlady]

May 13, 2021 12:54:03 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

May 13, 2021 12:43:00 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Planning to take the kids on a stroll across this one in a few weeks.  Carrot will go into cardiac arrest.  I actually drove across it 20 years ago driving a 3/4 ton truck pulling a camper!  It took up almost the entire width and the "dunk dunk dunk dunk" sound of the wheels going over the wooden floor made it even more exciting.  LOL

I see train tracks along side the river. Where is this bridge?

Colorado.  America's highest suspension bridge.  It pretty much just leads to a cow pasture.  LOL

royalgorgebridge.com/

[Tennesseer]

May 13, 2021 12:50:55 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

May 13, 2021 12:35:45 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Not bothered too much about driving over bridges. Walking across bridges is another story even though I have walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and the Taos, New Mexico Bridge over the Rio Grande.

The picture below is the Taos, New Mexico Bridge. Not only have I walked across it, I have white-water rafted under it. Looking up from the river, the Bridge looks pretty small.

The Lake Ponchartrain Causeway going into New Orleans really, really wrecks my nerves. It’s almost 24 miles ling IIRC. It almost feels like you’re crossing an ocean, because for so long, there’s no end in sight. The first time I crossed it, I wasn’t driving, and deliberately went to sleep in the backseat before we got to it.

One time I went to New Orleans with somebody that knew I was afraid of bridges. We were out sightseeing and I look up and we were at the entrance to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway even though he KNEW I didn't want to go across it. I got so upset and angry, I almost cried. And of course, once we finally got across it, we had to come back. That was the end of the fun, I raised hell with him for the rest of the trip. 

Chances are then you wouldn't lie the drive down to Key West, Florida. Lots of bridges over open water.

You might not even like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Not only do you travel over a Bridge and travel over open water. But you also drive underwater for a bit.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I guess if the incentive is big enough, they can get the bridge up and functioning faster than months.

Several years ago, the bridge over the Skagit river (yeah, I know not quite as big) was hit by a semi and where the semi hit the bridge it damaged the support and the bridge collapsed.  Several cars wound up in the river, luckily no one died, no serious injuries.  The bridge closed, but this bridge was the major conduit between Vancouver BC and Seattle.  The alternate route took drivers an extra 30-40 minutes.

The bridge was replaced in less than a month.

[minnesotapaintlady]

The I35 bridge was rebuilt in 11 months after it collapsed.  They said typically a project like that would take at least 3 years, but it was a critical route so they can speed things up a lot.  Our bridge between our town and WI was closed right after the I35 collapse because the state started doing a lot of inspections.  People living right across the river with a 10 minute commute to work were now having to take detours that were over an hour long. They figured out a way to work on half the bridge at a time while the other lane was open to single lane traffic with a flagman.  After they got it safe they built a second bridge right next to the first and then totally reconditioned the original.  Now we always have a back up bridge so they can shut one down to work on it.

[wvugurl26]

Chesapeake tunnel doesn't bother me.

The bridge to the eastern shore of Maryland is not my favorite when they flip traffic to have three lanes going in one direction. That freaks me out. Plus there's several bad wrecks every year.

[steph08]

May 13, 2021 12:59:12 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 13, 2021 12:54:03 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I see train tracks along side the river. Where is this bridge?

Colorado.  America's highest suspension bridge.  It pretty much just leads to a cow pasture.  LOL

royalgorgebridge.com/

My parents, brother, and I went on the Royal Gorge Train about a decade ago when my brother completed his Ph.D. I want to go on that bridge now! 

[Deleted]

May 13, 2021 13:01:25 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

May 13, 2021 12:50:55 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

The Lake Ponchartrain Causeway going into New Orleans really, really wrecks my nerves. It’s almost 24 miles ling IIRC. It almost feels like you’re crossing an ocean, because for so long, there’s no end in sight. The first time I crossed it, I wasn’t driving, and deliberately went to sleep in the backseat before we got to it.

One time I went to New Orleans with somebody that knew I was afraid of bridges. We were out sightseeing and I look up and we were at the entrance to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway even though he KNEW I didn't want to go across it. I got so upset and angry, I almost cried. And of course, once we finally got across it, we had to come back. That was the end of the fun, I raised hell with him for the rest of the trip. 

Chances are then you wouldn't lie the drive down to Key West, Florida. Lots of bridges over open water.

You might not even like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Not only do you travel over a Bridge and travel over open water. But you also drive underwater for a bit.

Isn’t there another bridge somewhere between Tennessee and Florida that goes underwater? I’m almost positive I’ve been on one like that before, but I can’t remember where I was going. Guess I blocked it out of my mind lol. Maybe it was when I went to Tampa, Florida? I really can’t remember.

I’ve always wanted to go to the Keys. I guess I’ll have to nod my head and click my heels together to get there.

[Deleted]

As a teenager, I’ve been across one of those bridges that raise up to let ships through. I want to say it was in Chicago. Me no likey.

Looks like Lake Ponchartrain is the only scary bridge I haven’t erased from my memory where it’s located.

[jerseygirl]

Roads to NYC Lincoln and Holland tunnels are almost the reverse, I worry that there will be a collapse onto the traffic below. The roads are really narrow with multiple lanes merging and since traffic is usually slow you get s chance to see the rusted Rebars with rotten cement crumbling off the rusted rebars holding up the overheads supports.

I don’t drive that way more, I prefer to take the train over the decrepit bridges with the view of the swamps and traffic attempting to be the most aggressive driver and move 5’ ahead of the others. Taking the train also avoids the cacophony of horns and loud radios and the Jersey finger wave
Of course the train tunnels still haven’t had the needed repairs to damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Not too hopeful- Obama’s shovel ready didn’t do anything and I think the Biden plans won’t either

[Deleted]

May 13, 2021 13:02:54 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I guess if the incentive is big enough, they can get the bridge up and functioning faster than months.

Several years ago, the bridge over the Skagit river (yeah, I know not quite as big) was hit by a semi and where the semi hit the bridge it damaged the support and the bridge collapsed.  Several cars wound up in the river, luckily no one died, no serious injuries.  The bridge closed, but this bridge was the major conduit between Vancouver BC and Seattle.  The alternate route took drivers an extra 30-40 minutes.

The bridge was replaced in less than a month.

Memphis used to be the distribution capital of the nation. I’m not sure where it ranks now, but a lot of goods still either pass through or are shipped from Memphis. I would think that would be a big incentive to get it fixed ASAP. But the city is so backwards in some ways, so who knows.

I’m also not sure which state is supposed to repair it, Arkansas or Tennessee. The top of the bridge is shaped like an “m”, and I believe I’ve read the crack is close to the center of the m.

[busymom]

May 13, 2021 12:22:53 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 13, 2021 12:11:08 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

How long until someone starts saying that it's a Biden ploy to push through his infrastructure plan  .

I don't like bridges either so I'm very glad that they get inspected.

For the most part bridges don't bother me, but I can't go across the I35 bridge in Minneapolis without getting the willies.  All I can see is that school bus hanging off the side over the river.

     I remember the collapse of that bridge VERY well.  The woman who drove that school bus had a special needs kid who went to school with DS.  Unfortunately, I have family who knew one of the men who was killed.      I'm glad Biden is moving forward to repair bridges & highways.  Long overdue.

[tallguy]

May 13, 2021 13:02:54 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I guess if the incentive is big enough, they can get the bridge up and functioning faster than months.

Several years ago, the bridge over the Skagit river (yeah, I know not quite as big) was hit by a semi and where the semi hit the bridge it damaged the support and the bridge collapsed.  Several cars wound up in the river, luckily no one died, no serious injuries.  The bridge closed, but this bridge was the major conduit between Vancouver BC and Seattle.  The alternate route took drivers an extra 30-40 minutes.

The bridge was replaced in less than a month.

You weren't here then, but the old I-90 bridge across Lake Washington in Seattle had a "bulge" that allowed 200 feet of the bridge deck to be retracted inside to allow boats to pass through.  This meant that drivers had to, at highway speed, veer right and then left again to get around the bulge.  Even worse, to allow more rush hour traffic to get in and out of Seattle it had reversible lanes.  At those times there were three lanes going in one direction with only one lane going the other, meaning that one lane of drivers was then on the wrong side of the bulge.  Now think of drivers making those directional changes at highway speed in adjacent lanes with no barriers between.... 

None of you other people's "normal" bridges would ever faze me....   

Oh, by the way, we also had a floating bridge sink.  Not to even mention Galloping Gertie!   

 

[daisylu]

May 13, 2021 13:18:05 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Chesapeake tunnel doesn't bother me.

The bridge to the eastern shore of Maryland is not my favorite when they flip traffic to have three lanes going in one direction. That freaks me out. Plus there's several bad wrecks every year.

That is my white knuckle bridge. I can not go over it with anyone else but me driving, and no one is allowed to speak until we are on the other side. I have been on that bridge more than once when part of the side barrier was missing and there was a vehicle in the water. I also hate when the work on it and the floor is grated steel.

[NastyWoman]

May 13, 2021 12:22:53 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 13, 2021 12:11:08 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

How long until someone starts saying that it's a Biden ploy to push through his infrastructure plan  .

I don't like bridges either so I'm very glad that they get inspected.

For the most part bridges don't bother me, but I can't go across the I35 bridge in Minneapolis without getting the willies.  All I can see is that school bus hanging off the side over the river.

Bridges are fine but long tunnels through mountains...

[engineerdoe]

May 13, 2021 13:02:54 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I guess if the incentive is big enough, they can get the bridge up and functioning faster than months.

Several years ago, the bridge over the Skagit river (yeah, I know not quite as big) was hit by a semi and where the semi hit the bridge it damaged the support and the bridge collapsed.  Several cars wound up in the river, luckily no one died, no serious injuries.  The bridge closed, but this bridge was the major conduit between Vancouver BC and Seattle.  The alternate route took drivers an extra 30-40 minutes.

The bridge was replaced in less than a month.

I remember that.  It made going up to our job sites in Arlington lots of fun.