(
Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges;
John A. Weeks III;
Satellite)
Grady Hillhouse Practical Engineering's analysis of the failure (12:54 video)
May 12, 2021 Update:
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CNN Link
"Authorities have also shut down river traffic until further notice....More than 50,000 vehicles drive over the bridge each day." |
The I-55 bridge is the only other road bridge over the Mississippi River for many miles. It was found during a regular 2-year inspection. It makes your wonder how long it has been cracked.
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| TDOT via CNN and news5 (This site also has a drone video of the empty bridge.) |
"As of the morning of Friday, May 14, there were 62 vessels and 1,058 barges in queue. The Coast Guard lifted all restrictions to vessel traffic....The bridge remains closed to highway traffic....TDOT reported that three plates in a 2-foot-wide steel beam had separated by a fraction of an inch, and a fourth plate was cracked. [So how many plates were there total?] ARDOT reported the bridge had last been inspected in September 2020. Although most bridges are inspected every two years, fracture-critical bridges are inspected on an annual basis. "
This queue is expected to clear in 48 hours. But those tows going on to the Upper Mississippi and Ohio Rivers will probably face big queues at the first locks.
Another source labeled that photo with a partial crack as 2019. Does the inspector file the photos away and no one else sees them? Is someone going over the photos from the other bridges that he has inspected?
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safe_image for Inspector Who Twice Missed Crack in Bridge Is Fired, Arkansas Officials Say
“He didn’t see it,” Lorie Tudor, the department’s director, said at the news conference. “But the reason he didn’t see it is because he wasn’t following proper protocol.” The inspector was required to “literally go inch by inch along that beam and physically inspect every inch of the beam,” she said, adding, “That did not happen.”
[This article confirms the 2019 photo was taken with a drone. "When asked why the crack was not discovered sooner if it was visible on the drone video, Ms. Tudor said the video was about five hours long 'and there’s like less than a second' of it that shows the crack." The problem was spotted by a contractor that was hired to inspect the upper portion of the bridge. "More than 35,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily — about a third of them commercial [truck] traffic."] |
The original notes:
The bridge is supposed to invoke the image of an "M" for Memphis. A Facebook comment observed that rivermen call it the Dolly Parton Bridge.
Each arch span is 900'. The other spans are box girders.
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One of fourteen photos posted by John Weeks, cropped
Looking north towards the Big-M Bridge, which carries I-40 into Memphis. [Taken from the trail that is now on the north side of the Harahan Bridge.] |
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Bridges Now and Then posted
Construction on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge over the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tennessee, and West Memphis, Arkansas, c. August, 1972. (TDOT) |
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Bridges Now and Then posted
"View of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, looking northwest across Mud Island to the Hernando de Soto Bridge still under construction on January 11, 1973. The photograph was taken from the 29th floor of One Commerce Square." (Commercial Appeal)
John Jauchler: One Commerce Square itself would have still been under construction, or perhaps just completed, at this date. Lots going on in downtown Memphis at that date, but things would go downhill through the ‘70s. The ‘80s marked a resurgence, fortunately, but no new big bridges and only a few new taller buildings. |
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Tim Miller posted, cropped
[Judging from the comments, the towboat operators can turn off the decorative lights so that they can more easily see the piers.] |
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Mike Davis posted
Found this post card today. Says: "The towboat Miss Kae-D using all of her 10,500 horsepower set an inland waterway record May 2, 1981, when she departed Baton Rouge, La., pushing 72 jumbo barges bound for Hickman, Ky. The record tow was 9 barges wide,8 barges long and covered 12.72 acres. Total loading capacity 113,400 net tons." Holy Cow !
Cris Muirhead: The Miss Kae D is now the Russell G Stover. She's been re-powered and is now 11,100 horsepower.
http://www.towboatgallery.com/Jeffrey_G_Stover-0581300.php?mnu=
Jack Tanner Towing shared
[I learned just yesterday that the big towboats have three screws. We can clearly see in this photo that the towboat is wider than a barge. But when a tow is this big, putting barges on the hips of the towboat doesn't significantly increase capacity.] |
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Matt Burks posted
[Comments provide two more photos of the bridge at night.] |
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Todd Simpkins posted
Wind & High water, Memphis Bridges |
The bridge has three lanes in each direction, but no emergency lane. There have been fatal accidents as a consequence. [Bridge Hunter] I can't tell if the lanes are the federal standard of 12'. Building a parallel structure would provide plenty of room for the traffic lanes and allow them to add bike+pedestrian lanes to this one.
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safe_image, May 12, 2021, for Hernando de Soto Bridge Crack Stops Lower Mississippi River Barge Traffic
Steven Fancher: Same thing happened to its sister bridge going from new Albany indiana to Louisville ky it was closed for months.
Mary C Kennedy: ACBL this morning on I-40 bridge closure: This has the potential to be a multi-day closure with major impact to the river system. Routine inspection found a significant breakdown to load bearing structure. As of Wednesday morning, engineers and surveyors are on-site making evaluations. Industry remains awaiting further details on the longevity of this issue. Queue is currently 14 SBD, 5 NBD as of 1600 5/12. (Also heard approx 400 barges this morning) |
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safe_image for Bridge update: Reopening plans for I-40 eastbound and westbound lanes announced
"The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) announced July 28 that I-40 eastbound lanes, traveling from Arkansas into Memphis, will reopen Monday, Aug. 2, by 6 a.m. Additionally, I-40 westbound lanes into Arkansas will reopen Friday, Aug. 6, with a time still to be determined....The news comes after additional work was needed to repair the bridge beyond the visible beam fracture found in May. TDOT noted in its July 12 bridge work update that consulting engineers, after reviewing the 800-page inspection report, found 17 locations in need of plates to properly repair the Hernando de Soto Bridge and bring back cross traffic." [So the state inspectors missed a lot of problems with the bridge.] |
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Ben Cotton posted
New bridge Memphis tn |
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Josh Winstead posted
Coming through memphis this morningš¤ |
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Bridges Now and Then posted
This undated photo shows construction of the Hernando de Soto Bridge over the Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas. The bridge opened August 17, 1973. (The Commercial Appeal Files) |
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1:25 timelapse video @ 0:50
[The video continues under the other three bridges.] |
9:13 shows a 2016 photo that shows the crack.
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