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Memphis, TN: I-40 bridge crack likely went undetected since the span was fabricated in 1970s

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/12/9964...s-indefinitely-closed-disrupting-supply-chain
Cracked Memphis Bridge Indefinitely Closed, Disrupting Supply Chain
May 12, 202111:05 PM ET
Vanessa Romo
Debbie Elliott
...
The Coast Guard said Mississippi river traffic is already backing up in both directions, with more than 400 barges awaiting passage, according to Reuters.

Lt. Mark Pipkin, a Coast Guard spokesman, told the wire service that there were 12 northbound vessels with 157 barges waiting to pass and another 16 vessels with 254 barges in the queue to go southbound. "The barges are carrying a mix of materials including crude oil and dry cargo like corn or rocks," Reuters said.

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/l...ridge-immediately/EDX2IMH4ZZFYBIVFMN6TA5Y7CA/
?We need to get people off the bridge immediately?: Hear the 911 call that brought traffic to a halt

May 12, 2021 at 4:43 pm CDTBy Greg Coy, FOX13Memphis.comMEMPHIS, Tenn. ? FOX13 obtained the 911 call from the inspector who discovered the crack in the I-40 bridge and the action he demanded right away to save lives.

Clearly, you can hear the inspector realizing they had spotted danger on the bridge.
?I am doing a bridge inspection on the I-40 Mississippi River bridge. We just found a super critical find and we need traffic shut down on the I-40 Mississippi River bridge. I have already called and talked to the ARDOT people and they are working on it. We need to get people off the bridge as soon as possible. We need to get people off the bridge immediately.?...
 
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-90.0/centery:35.1/zoom:11

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/...in-mississippi-river-near-memphis-coast-guard
  • Agriculture | Metals
  • 13 May 2021 | 22:28 UTC
More than 700 ships, barges stalled in Mississippi River near Memphis: Coast Guard
...
Recent counts show the closure has bottlenecked some 44 large ships and 709 barges both northbound and southbound, up from 16 large ships and 229 barges reported on May 12, between mile marker 736 and 737, according to the Coast Guard....
 
Bridge still closed to vehicles.

https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Mississippi-River-opened-near-Memphis-under-16177072.php
Mississippi River traffic resumes under damaged bridge

ADRIAN SAINZ and ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press
May 14, 2021Updated: May 14, 2021 6:11 p.m.

...
More than 60 tugboats hauling more than 1,000 barges were in line Friday to cross under the Hernando De Soto Bridge, the Coast Guard said.
...
The Arkansas Trucking Association on Friday estimated the closure would cost the trucking industry at least $2.4 million a day because of the longer routes to cross the river. The group used data provided by the American Transportation Research Institute...
 
https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2021/...-bridge-crack/
Engineering expert explains I-40 bridge crack
By Kelli Cook | May 12, 2021 at 9:55 PM CDT - Updated May 14 at 12:08 PM

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A civil engineer and professor, who spent two years studying the Hernando-Desoto Bridge and installing sensors to track any abnormalities, explains the crack in the bridge.
...
The Hernando-Desoto bridge opened in 1973. Abdelnaby says bridges built during that era were not designed to handle such a high volume of traffic. Today 41,000 vehicles cross this bridge every day. Thirty percent are commercial trucks.
...
?So, this crack is very developed. When I look at the crack, the crack doesn?t look to me like it?s new. The crack looks like the edges of the crack are worn. You see they are round, they are not sharp edges,? said Abdelnaby....

https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2021/...ection-report/
Engineer examines 2020 I-40 bridge inspection report
By Joyce Peterson | May 13, 2021 at 9:58 PM CDT - Updated May 14 at 12:04 PM

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - WMC Action News 5 talked with an engineer who worked on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, installing seismic sensors.
...
He interpreted the most recent inspection report for us, then explained why the iconic M-shape we love so much about the I-40 bridge likely contributed to the damage.

The major problem, he says, is the unique design of the bridge, the truss system and the two arches that form the M-shape. Abdelnaby says weight isn?t distributed evenly on the cables.

?There is a high stress concentration at this point,? he said of the steel box below the shorter cables where the fracture occurred, ?because of the uneven stretching of the cables. The structural system used in the bridge is not the ideal system to use in a span that long.?

Abdelnaby created a computer program that shows how weight is actually distributed across the bridge.

?Back in the 1960s when that bridge was designed, computer models wouldn?t capture that kind of behavior,? said Abdelnaby.

He says the existing fracture could be repaired in two days. But his computer model shows the load path would then shift to other weak spots. The big question now is how many weak spots are there?...
 
https://wreg.com/news/i-40-bridge/how-bad-was-the-i-40-bridge-crack-we-asked-a-civil-engineer/
How bad was the Memphis bridge crack? We asked a civil engineer

by: Shay Arthur
Posted: May 21, 2021 / 04:02 PM CDT / Updated: May 21, 2021 / 06:09 PM CDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The discovery of a cracked bridge beam shut down traffic and cost an inspector his job after ARDOT says he failed to notice the break.

We wanted to know just how bad that crack was when it was discovered.

Dr. Andrew Assadollahi, Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Christian Brothers University, believes the problem could’ve become very bad and explained how this one fracture has a ripple effect...
 
https://www.commercialappeal.com/st...o-bridge-opened-with-crack-report/8586858002/
I-40 bridge crack likely went undetected since the span was fabricated in 1970s, report finds
The Associated Press
November 12, 2021

LITTLE ROCK Ark. — A crack in a steel beam that forced the closure of the Interstate 40 bridge connecting Arkansas and Tennessee for three months likely began when the span was fabricated in the 1970s and went undetected for years, a report by Arkansas’ Transportation Department released Thursday said.

A forensic investigation by an outside firm hired by the department said the crack occurred in a weld between two plates during the bridge’s fabrication. Those welds were more susceptible to cracking because of the type of steel and welding method used then, the department said.

“In all likelihood, the cracking in the weld occurred within hours of its completion but was not detected by any post-weld repair fabrication testing and remained unchanged for a number of years,” the department’s report said.

The crack had been visible in 2016, and an inspector who had missed it was fired by the department in May. The report said the weld fracture initially was not visible by conventional inspection and was not caught by an ultrasonic inspection in 1982...
 
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