I-40 Bridge In Memphis

I don't get closing the river to barge traffic. The bridge doesn't seem likely to collapse, and it could have been in this condition for months. Hopefully tug operators can still navigate without running into the piers. Just seems like the typical bureaucratic kneejerk reaction - they have to be seen as doing something - "managing the situation". Maybe they'll just paint the piers and put fancy lights on them so the tugs will be sure to miss them - or be attracted by flashy things.

Nearly 800 Barges Stuck In Lower Mississippi River From Bridge Crack | ZeroHedge

Reuters reports as of Thursday, the logjam of barrages swelled to 771. Coast guard officials closed the waterway Wednesday, preventing any vessel from passing underneath the bridge.

"At the spot where the river is closed, 26 vessels with 430 barges are waiting to pass north, and 21 vessels with 341 barges are in the queue to go south, said Petty Officer Carlos Galarza," a Coast Guard spokesman told Reuters.

2021-05-14_06-57-18.png
 
A lot of people don’t even notice because they are so busy and have to be somewhere in the next 30 mins . I promise if more people looked up and around every time the went under an overpass ... there would be an uprising about about how unsafe and in disrepair our nations overpasses are . I wait to hear about so horrific collapse every day , I have for years though .
wut

The bridges get inspected every now and then.
 
Nearly 800 Barges Stuck In Lower Mississippi River From Bridge Crack | ZeroHedge

Reuters reports as of Thursday, the logjam of barrages swelled to 771. Coast guard officials closed the waterway Wednesday, preventing any vessel from passing underneath the bridge.

"At the spot where the river is closed, 26 vessels with 430 barges are waiting to pass north, and 21 vessels with 341 barges are in the queue to go south, said Petty Officer Carlos Galarza," a Coast Guard spokesman told Reuters.

2021-05-14_06-57-18.png

Apparently, restrictions on the barge traffic has been lifted to travel the river as of 9:30 am today.

US Coast Guard lifts restriction on Miss. River near I-40 bridge
 
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A Drone fly over & a picture of the crack that's on the bridge ....

GALLERY: Photos show fracture in steel beam of I-40 bridge over Mississippi River
Let me get this straight. TDot or the Feds hire an engineering company to inspect the bridge and they don't have any procedures in place when they find a major defect other than call 911 and tell the 911 operator they need to shut down both lanes of traffic of one of the busiest interstates in the country? Good grief.
 
Let me get this straight. TDot or the Feds hire an engineering company to inspect the bridge and they don't have any procedures in place when they find a major defect other than call 911 and tell the 911 operator they need to shut down both lanes of traffic of one of the busiest interstates in the country? Good grief.
Yeah, now that you say that, that does seem odd.
 
Inspector who failed to catch Memphis interstate bridge crack fired
Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Lorie Tudor said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in May 2019. Tudor said the crack was not noted by the inspector in his reports that fall or the following year.
So we have an infrastructure problem or an inept government problem?
 
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Now it's all the way back to 2016. Probably been there 10 years or more. The 2016 crack image doesn't look too different from 2019.

Photos show I-40 bridge damage in 2016

View attachment 369006

I didn't expect that far back, but that it had probably been there for at least weeks or months made stopping barge traffic nuts. Not that it necessarily means anything, but it's interesting the break is near the one pier that isn't solid all the way to the top. Using drones for surveys like this is an amazing concept and tremendously improves safety - assuming somebody looks at the video.
 
I didn't expect that far back, but that it had probably been there for at least weeks or months made stopping barge traffic nuts. Not that it necessarily means anything, but it's interesting the break is near the one pier that isn't solid all the way to the top. Using drones for surveys like this is an amazing concept and tremendously improves safety - assuming somebody looks at the video.
Just from what I've observed in the structure of this bridge, the beam that broke doesn't appear to support any load, it seems to be more for horizontal movement and years of flexing caused it to break. They can sister some plates on it and it would probably last for another 20 years, but me being an electrical guy take my word for what it's worth.
 
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Just from what I've observed in the structure of this bridge, the beam that broke doesn't appear to support any load, it seems to be more for horizontal movement and years of flexing caused it to break. They can sister some plates on it and it would probably last for another 20 years, but me being an electrical guy take my word for what it's worth.

Welds can be stronger than the original casting cant they? Or rivets, which seemed acceptable for eons. They will form an expensive "failure" report and critical review of the 71 YO bridge. Just properly inspect, fix it and start allocation of funding to replace the dang thing, which will take many years.
 
Our bridge over the Ohio River here in Cincinnati has been "crumbling" for 20 yrs now. FEDs still fumbling with a plan. Why is Biden and his crew talking about replacing "racist" roads and bridges with major interstate connectors like yours in Memphis and ours in Ohio/KY in major need of repair?

Nominee Buttigieg Vows To Dismantle ‘Racist’ Freeways
Pete is right on this. There are numerous studies that have shown infrastructure policy has been incredibly classist and racist over the years. Take a look at Robert Moses. And red-lining. Just to start.

Also, the repairs Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas failed to provide on their own are covered in this package.
 
Pete is right on this. There are numerous studies that have shown infrastructure policy has been incredibly classist and racist over the years. Take a look at Robert Moses. And red-lining. Just to start.

Also, the repairs Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas failed to provide on their own are covered in this package.

It's a matter of priority. Let's fix I-75 and I-40 before addressing racist highways.
 
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