I've spent a ridiculous amount of time in Memphis and NE Arkansas for work and crossed both bridges a million times. Hate them both because I'm usually in some powerless rental car surrounded by semis.

As for Memphis BBQ, I've tried it all. I'd pull up local top ten lists and check all of them off. I think I'm lucky to be alive because I went to some absolute hoods.

Favorites:

1. Central (original on Central)
2. Interstate (not because it is the best, but because it was on the way to the airport and I got to know the old waitresses there by name, and it was consistent)
3. Payne's

riverrataggie said:

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Tex100 said:

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Drove over that bridge last week.

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Are you ok?

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That could be another question, but I did successfully drive a Ford F150 from the east side to the west side across said bridge.

i am gonna guess that this could not have happened without distributing major loads elsewhere, nor that it could have happened without internal corrosion, which if so is likely prevalent even though the bridge is less than 50 years old.



my bet is a very long inspection and design process with major band aids taking over a year... or a new bridge.

Some half inch steel plate and welder, Bubba can have it back open tomorrow.

Few tubes of JB Weld and it will be like new.

Quote:

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The Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Memphis on Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, ending a shutdown of a part of the waterway that disrupted shipments of oil and corn and caused a backlog of more than 1,000 barges.

The Coast Guard said the river is open to all vessel traffic without restrictions, after traffic was halted on Tuesday because of a fracture in the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that carries vehicular traffic on Interstate 40 over the river.

"Based on information provided to us by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard has determined that transit under the I-40 bridge is safe for maritime traffic," said Coast Guard Capt. Ryan Rhodes, captain of the Port of Memphis.

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Quote:

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The reopening will begin to ease a jam of 62 vessels with a total of 1,058 barges that were waiting to pass through the closed area, according to the Coast Guard.

Almost all grain barges must pass beneath the DeSoto bridge on their way to Gulf of Mexico export facilities near New Orleans after being loaded along the upper Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois or Missouri rivers, according to the Soy Transportation Coalition, an agricultural industry group.

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Link

aggiehawg said:

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Quote:

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The Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Memphis on Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, ending a shutdown of a part of the waterway that disrupted shipments of oil and corn and caused a backlog of more than 1,000 barges.

The Coast Guard said the river is open to all vessel traffic without restrictions, after traffic was halted on Tuesday because of a fracture in the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that carries vehicular traffic on Interstate 40 over the river.

"Based on information provided to us by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard has determined that transit under the I-40 bridge is safe for maritime traffic," said Coast Guard Capt. Ryan Rhodes, captain of the Port of Memphis.

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Quote:

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The reopening will begin to ease a jam of 62 vessels with a total of 1,058 barges that were waiting to pass through the closed area, according to the Coast Guard.

Almost all grain barges must pass beneath the DeSoto bridge on their way to Gulf of Mexico export facilities near New Orleans after being loaded along the upper Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois or Missouri rivers, according to the Soy Transportation Coalition, an agricultural industry group.

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Link

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I imagine they opened it because of huge business and political pressure, not because it was deemed safe. I'm sure there are technical people at the DOTs that are quite stressed out right now, and I would bet that river traffic is closed down again within days.

I expect they'll close it again soon, and patch on some "emergency repairs" (scab on some side plates and weld it up) that will preclude a catastrophic collapse, and then safely allow river traffic again, while they study it and develop permanent solution.

Wrighty said:

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aggiehawg said:

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The Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Memphis on Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, ending a shutdown of a part of the waterway that disrupted shipments of oil and corn and caused a backlog of more than 1,000 barges.

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I imagine they opened it because of huge business and political pressure, not because it was deemed safe. I'm sure there are technical people at the DOTs that are quite stressed out right now, and I would bet that river traffic is closed down again within days.

I expect they'll close it again soon, and patch on some "emergency repairs" (scab on some side plates and weld it up) that will preclude a catastrophic collapse, and then safely allow river traffic again, while they study it and develop permanent solution.

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If there is no traffic on the bridge, how unsafe is it to travel under? I'm not being snarky, just have no idea.

Wearer of the Ring said:

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Probably safe but better wear a mask anyway.

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We won't be safe until we have herd immunity in the bridge population.

88planoAg said:

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Wrighty said:

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aggiehawg said:

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The Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Memphis on Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, ending a shutdown of a part of the waterway that disrupted shipments of oil and corn and caused a backlog of more than 1,000 barges.

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I imagine they opened it because of huge business and political pressure, not because it was deemed safe. I'm sure there are technical people at the DOTs that are quite stressed out right now, and I would bet that river traffic is closed down again within days.

I expect they'll close it again soon, and patch on some "emergency repairs" (scab on some side plates and weld it up) that will preclude a catastrophic collapse, and then safely allow river traffic again, while they study it and develop permanent solution.

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If there is no traffic on the bridge, how unsafe is it to travel under? I'm not being snarky, just have no idea.

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With no traffic on it, you're right the bridge is not seeing its max design loads. However, from its own self weight I'd assume the bridge is still sitting at some reasonably high percentage of that design load. I dont know but lets call it 60%? I think this part of the equation is easy to define and understand for the appropriate engineers.

I think the hard part is that the bridge is reacting to the self weight loads differently than it was designed for. While the overall weight/load on the bridge is reduced, its possible that the new load path puts some locally higher loads somewhere that it wasn't planned for (probably the "sister beam" on the other side of the bridge that is taking most of the tension now?). So I imagine the engineers will need to study quite carefully the new load path, and whether any connections or beams are seeing too high a load given the new load path.

Generally, I'd be surprised if this level of detailed review by a responsible engineer has taken place this quickly, and is complete to the point that an engineer has signed off that this is safe. Instead of that, I'd guess that this decision was made by someone who's not responsible technically, but has made their own judgement, and that decision may be revisited as the engineers have more input and everyone starts clarifying whos responsible and liable etc. just me guessing here. I dont envy the responsible people here.

Having a fear of heights, this pic is chilling.

aggiehawg said:

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Having a fear of heights, this pic is chilling.

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Oh crap. I drop my tape measure in the water.

Just tell the towboat guys to push faster

aggiehawg said:

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Having a fear of heights, this pic is chilling.

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I would've waited for the bridge to warm up a little bit first before taking that picture.

aggiehawg said:

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Having a fear of heights, this pic is chilling.

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couple ratchet straps and some jb weld and we're back in bidnezz

Did anyone imagine it was a 1inch break?

BQ_90 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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couple ratchet straps and some jb weld and we're back in bidnezz

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Actually, this is serious, here's what it needs to really fix it:

-Ratchet straps to pull it closer
-Gorilla tape
-Gorilla glue
-JB Weld


After all that, then:

-Flex seal MAX (we ain't ****ing around, here!)
-Flex tape over it all.




BOOM, done!!!

aggiehawg said:

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Having a fear of heights, this pic is chilling.

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i love that the bridge inspector wears slick-ass cowboy boots on a smooth metal beam

@myARDOT @myTDOT Well the I-40 crack started well before the 2019 inspection. Here is a shot I took in July 2019. You can see the crack was quite extensive at that point. Curious why this wasn't caught in Aug 2019 inspection. #40MSRiverBridge #HernandoDeSoto pic.twitter.com/vsQkR4cWYl

— David Manasco (@ManascoD) May 12, 2021

there's about to be some unemployed bridge inspectors

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/2019-photo-appears-show-crack-i-40-bridge-then/3JL6WK5FRVET7OOFTPL7WMC4YI/

Quote:

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ARDOT spokesperson Dave Parker said he is aware of the picture but doesn't know who took it, where it came from or if it's altered.

He said engineers believe the crack appeared suddenly and didn't take years to form.

"From what we've seen in the last 48 hours, looking at everything, it does not appear to be a slow-developing crack months and months and months, years and years, it seems to be something that happened quickly," said Parker.

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I would guess that a sudden crack (last inspection was Sept 2020) would not have that much rust on it.

Update #40MSRiverBridge!

Today we have two new photos showing where the steel beam is still partially connected.

We have also launched a new webpage as a single place you can get all the info and another news release about what we accomplished today! https://t.co/dE4hyp2bgE pic.twitter.com/sn3elpfuMn

— Arkansas DOT (@myARDOT) May 13, 2021

hasn't broken all the way through, still partially connected on the bottom

River traffic is back open!!

#BREAKING: @myARDOT now confirms there's evidence of damage to the bridge connecting Arkansas to Memphis dating back to May 2019. The agency is now looking to see if any action was taken back then. pic.twitter.com/vPLpEcDAmk

— Ashlei King (@AshleiKing) May 14, 2021

drone footage from May 2019 shows the crack

TexasAggie_02 said:

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https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/2019-photo-appears-show-crack-i-40-bridge-then/3JL6WK5FRVET7OOFTPL7WMC4YI/

Quote:

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ARDOT spokesperson Dave Parker said he is aware of the picture but doesn't know who took it, where it came from or if it's altered.

He said engineers believe the crack appeared suddenly and didn't take years to form.

"From what we've seen in the last 48 hours, looking at everything, it does not appear to be a slow-developing crack months and months and months, years and years, it seems to be something that happened quickly," said Parker.

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I would guess that a sudden crack (last inspection was Sept 2020) would not have that much rust on it.

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Dave Parker is either lying or being lied to. I'm betting on the former.

LC Wannabe said:

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Looks like that "crack" has been there a while.

I-10 bridge in Lake Charles is next. That thing is a disaster waiting to happen.

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that lake Charles bridge worries me!

TexasAggie_02 said:

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@myARDOT @myTDOT Well the I-40 crack started well before the 2019 inspection. Here is a shot I took in July 2019. You can see the crack was quite extensive at that point. Curious why this wasn't caught in Aug 2019 inspection. #40MSRiverBridge #HernandoDeSoto pic.twitter.com/vsQkR4cWYl

— David Manasco (@ManascoD) May 12, 2021

there's about to be some unemployed bridge inspectors

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Place your bets now!
Inspectors being lazy?
Political conspiracy to force more gov spending (the fact that this even seems plausible is sad)?
Misplaced report in ARDot?
Feds being lazy?

From what I've heard before, our infrastructure is generally held in place by duct tape, JB wield, and the sheer will of the DOT. And there usually isn't enough of any of those.

erudite said:

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TexasAggie_02 said:

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@myARDOT @myTDOT Well the I-40 crack started well before the 2019 inspection. Here is a shot I took in July 2019. You can see the crack was quite extensive at that point. Curious why this wasn't caught in Aug 2019 inspection. #40MSRiverBridge #HernandoDeSoto pic.twitter.com/vsQkR4cWYl

— David Manasco (@ManascoD) May 12, 2021

there's about to be some unemployed bridge inspectors

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Place your bets now!
Inspectors being lazy?
Political conspiracy to force more gov spending (the fact that this even seems plausible is sad)?
Misplaced report in ARDot?
Feds being lazy?

From what I've heard before, our infrastructure is generally held in place by duct tape, JB wield, and the sheer will of the DOT. And there usually isn't enough of any of those.

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Trump. Duh.

The Brazos Kid said:

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TexasRebel said:

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TexasAggie_02 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Having a fear of heights, this pic is chilling.

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i love that the bridge inspector wears slick-ass cowboy boots on a smooth metal beam

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Those are steel toed Ariats with oil resistant rubber soles.

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TexasRebel: Boot Barn Employee of the Month.

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Ha! I wore the same style until our company mandated metatarsal guards.

aggiehawg said:

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Ag with kids said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Burdizzo said:

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A couple of fish plates, some 7018 rods, and a Millet Bobcat welding machine, and she'll be good as new.

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Maybe you can't answer this but is it significant that the steel failed away from the rivets, instead of at the rivets???

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Yes.

It IS significant.

And I don't know how often they inspect that bridge, but that COMPLETE FAILURE of the steel integrity didn't just happen in a short time.

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That bridge was built in the early 60s. The I-55 was built well before that.

So explain to me like I am five, why that is significant. Not Chinese bad steel.

What does that mean?

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possible explanation here https://eatonrapidsjoe.blogspot.com/2021/05/i-40-bridge-over-mississippi-river.html

Quote:

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What no responsible engineer wants to suggest is the possibility that steel beams with very-low, cold temperature impact toughness were built into critical, US infrastructure like bridges.

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If anything is a stop work authority it should be a bridge inspection team.

ARDOT inspector who did 2019 & 2020 inspection on I-40 bridge has been fired https://t.co/BohiEZbjBl

— Local 24 News (@LocalMemphis) May 17, 2021

Arkansas inspector fired: "From our investigation we have determined the same employee who conducted the inspection in 2019 and 2020 failed to carry out his responsibilities correctly," said ARDOT Director Lorie Tudor. The employee, she said, was terminated from his position Monday morning.

Bridges in Arkansas previously inspected by the terminated employee will be re-inspected immediately.



Photo of inspectors on the top half of bridge.



Stock photo of inspector fired for failing to see damages