Inspector who failed to catch Mississippi River bridge crack is fired
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An inspector who failed to discover a crack in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee that prompted the span's closure has been fired, Arkansas transportation officials said Monday.
Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Lorie Tudor said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crackon 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.
"This is unacceptable," Tudor said at a news conference. The department did not immediately name the employee and said the incident is also being referred to federal investigators.
Arkansas' DOT on Monday released an image and video from the drone, which showed the crack. The drone footage was taken by a consultant inspecting the bridge's cables.
Traffic on the six-lane bridge was shut down last Tuesday after inspectors found a "significant fracture" in one of two 900-foot horizontal steel beams that are critical for the bridge's integrity. River traffic under the span was closed Tuesday but reopened on Friday.
May 14: Cracked Memphis bridge causing major traffic
The closure has impacted a heavily used corridor and raised concerns about shipping and delivery costs. The Arkansas Trucking Association on Friday estimated the closure would cost the trucking industry at least $2.4 million a day.
Traffic was being rerouted to Interstate 55 and the 71-year-old Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, about 3 miles south.
Arkansas and Tennessee authorities have not given a timeline for when the bridge will reopen. The Tennessee Department of Transportation said Monday that the I-40 bridge repair will be conducted in two phases, and both steps must be completed before the bridge can be reopened for road traffic.
The first step is installing steel plates on each side of the fractured beam to provide stability for crews to permanently replace the damaged parts, TDOT said in a statement. The plates are being made and fabrication should be completed by Wednesday, TDOT said. The second phase involves removal and replacement of the damaged piece of the bridge.
Nebraska-based Kiewit Corporation was selected Monday afternoon for the bridge repair work, Arkansas DOT spokesman Dave Parker said. Tennessee transportation officials said Kiewit could start work as early as Wednesday.
Tennessee's DOT also said it will review the condition of the I-55 bridge "out of an abundance of caution." The drone review is expected to occur Tuesday or Wednesday.
Tudor said all "fracture critical" bridges that had been inspected by the fired employee will be re-inspected. She said the fired employee, who had worked for the department for about 15 years, did not follow proper protocol in the bridge's inspection.
"The way we're supposed to inspect the bridge is you literally go inch by inch along that beam and physically inspect every inch of the beam," she said. "That did not happen."
A crack in a steel beam, found the day before, has forced the closure of the Interstate 40 bridge that connects Arkansas and Tennessee, in Memphis, Tenn., on May 12, 2021.Adrian Sainz / AP
Tudor said the department is making changes to its inspection program to add additional checks, including the use of a new drone to aid in inspecting bridges. Tudor said last week that the bridge's damage could have led to a "catastrophic" event had it not been discovered.
The bridge's closure comes as the White House is negotiating with a group of Senate Republicans on an infrastructure package. Democrats have called the I-40 bridge damage an example of the urgent need for additional funding to fix the nation's bridges and roads.
Republicans have called for a infrastructure plan with a smaller price tag than President Joe Biden's and with a narrower definition of public works.
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goober bridge is falling down,
falling down, falling down.
goober bridge is falling down,
who needs infrastructure? /s
So how much money would it take to get the inspectors to do their jobs properly? Taxpayers are already paying the inspector's wage and through negligence, the taxpayer's money was wasted, so how is throwing more money at the problem going to solve the problem?
You get what you pay for
the inspectors last job was playing banjo in a burt reynolds movie.
That is one hell of a crack. Given that it is through clean steel and not through the adjacent rivet plate makes me wonder about a dozen different things. Tensional cyclic loading, side axis alignment, metal quality/impurities...... Oh yeah.... I'm just the kind of person you want to liven up your dinner parties.
That crack took time, the edge that we see in the above picture is the last area to give way, the other views in the video show smooth slow advancing cracking and then the jagged edge of final failure, the inspector should have noticed this long ago which shows that they were just going through the motions of inspecting and not actually inspecting.
You noticed that too. This member is by design under tension, but there seem to be shear forces at work here that have lead to the fatigue type fracture we see in the photo. I'd be looking at other areas in the bridge in and around this failure to see what wasn't installed/ built right in the first place. This ain't right!
I'm guessing we'd be the two at the dinner party off talking science in a corner someplace....
I've been across that bridge numerous times. I hope they get it fixed soon and properly. I-40 is a major trucking route that runs from North Carolina to New Mexico? or is it California?
Yeah, it finally ends in Barstow.
Thank-you. I thought it went all the way to CA but wasn't sure. Wasn't Rt 66 once a part of I-40 or still is?
Yes & yes
It starts in Wilmington NC but it's not efficient around Asheville.
Once past Asheville it sails past Knoxville & Nashville all the way to Barstow CA
The whole western trail has numerous exits to visit old Rt 66 and some surviving sites.
So analytical. I love it.
This reminds me of things we were taught to inspect when I was in school for aircraft maintenance and repair. I'm surprised that inspectors on structures wouldn't have others following up.
The FAA requires several people to inspect the same aircraft and multiple sign-offs are required before releasing an aircraft back to service. For the automotive repair sector, someone certified must perform an inspection and perform the repair and if someone that isn't certified does the work, the certified person is required to review the work to completion. If a car comes into a shop and the brakes were inspected and found to be unsafe, it's a requirement that the shop refuse the person take their car without repair OR signing paperwork stating that the shop holds no responsibility if that person takes the car and gets into an accident. Similar occurs with home inspections... if something is found, either it needs to be fixed and re-inspected or the owner must sign paperwork stating that they take full responsibility and usually that owner is given a certain amount of time to get whatever it is, fixed. If that doesn't occur, they lose certificate of occupancy.
I'm just surprised that there's not further measures than a single guy inspecting and signing off.
Some cracks are likely hard to see. Drones can do a better job.
Problem is, very little of Biden's infrastructure bill would go toward bridge repair or replacement.
I was wondering how long it would take someone to start spouting off with Russian talking points.