AP: Kayaker's photos show crack in closed I-40 bridge in 2016

[SheltieLover]

https://apnews.com/article/business-lifestyle-681c35ee3afdd47d97978b0fdb7a448c

In this 2016 photo provided by Barry W. Moore, the Interstate 40 bridge is seen from the Mississippi River, between Arkansas and Tennessee. A cracked steel beam, seen above, prompted the indefinite closure of the bridge. (Barry W. Moore via AP)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Photos taken by a Mississippi River kayaker about five years before a crack was found in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas appear to show the fracture that led transportation officials to close the span indefinitely last week.

Arkansas transportation officials said they cannot confirm or refute what’s shown in the 2016 photos, which raise questions about how early the crack appeared.

The I-40 bridge connecting Memphis and the Arkansas city of West Memphis was shut down May 11 after inspectors found a crack in one of two 900-foot (275-meter) horizontal steel beams that are critical for the bridge’s structural integrity. River barge traffic under the span was closed that day but reopened three days later. Road traffic has been rerouted to the nearby Interstate 55 bridge.

More at link.

[Luciferous]

1. Used to drive across that bridge, scary!!!

[genxlib]

2. The good news and bad news

The good news is that the bridge is more resilient than everyone believed. It was not on the verge of imminent collapse after all.

The bad news is how something like that goes undetected for that long. In my state, every structure from the biggest bridge down to the smallest stream crossing is inspected every two years. Heads would roll if something like that were missed.

[miyazaki]

6. Heads did roll. At least one head. The inspectors.

[FakeNoose]

3. It takes more than one crack and more than one beam

... for the entire bridge to fail. However this particular crack has been missed repeatedly during annual inspections, so it makes you wonder whether the inspections were properly done?

I live in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County has more bridges - for cars and rails - per square mile than just about anywhere in the US. We take bridge inspections seriously! When the Minneapolis Interstate bridge collapsed about 10 years ago, it put the fear of God into our local engineers because a lot of our bridges were built from similar design in the same time-frame as the Minneapolis Interstate bridge. Major repairs and replacements began almost immediately here, and we're still completing these restorations even 10 years later. It's not convenient for motorists with the constant detours, but luckily Pittsburgh commuters understand the importance of this work. Or maybe we're just so used to it that it seems normal.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. It used to be said that PGH had more bridges than any city except Venice.

Don't really know if it's true, but it sounds nice.

PGH and Venice were once "sister cities". Don't know why they're not anymore.

[Amishman]

5. the long term failure of that support likely has had other parts of the bridge over max load

The bridge is going to need extremely thorough inspection to make sure the other parts of the bridge that have been taking the extra load are not damaged. It is entirely possible the structure cannot be brought back up to standards and needs full replacement.

[Xoan]

7. Not seeing it ...

can someone with better eyes give me a clue where it is on that picture?

[W_HAMILTON]

9. I couldn't see it either, you think they would circle it or something.

But the picture at the site is actually three different pictures, and if you scroll through them, the second picture shows the crack, although I can't tell if it is just a zoomed in part of this first image or a completely separate picture altogether.

EDIT: It looks like the second picture is completely different; however, I opened the first picture in a new tab and zoomed in and I *think* the crack can be seen almost in the top middle of the picture, on the bottom horizontal beam facing the camera. I doubt most people can make it out without zooming in. It almost looks like part of the bridge even when zooming in, since it is a relatively straight vertical crack.

[Ms. Toad]

10. Just left of center on the front beams.

Barely visible at this resolution.

Count left from front cement post two cross beams. There's a textured plate across the front surface. The crack is vertical - just off the right edge.

It helps to blow up the picture and then put it side-by-side with the close-up photo of the crack at the WaPo page.

But - yeah. They should have circled it, posted a higher resolution image, etc.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. What A Coincidence!

When the story came out days ago & I saw that picture, I stated that it didn't require a close inspection because you could see that crack from boat going under the bridge.
Now, we know a guy in a boat under the bridge could see it and photograph it!
I thought that crack looked huge!