MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A U.S. senator from Tennessee is calling on President Joe Biden to take an “urgent, all-hands” approach to the shutdown of a bridge that connects Tennessee and Arkansas.
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty said May 15 in a letter to the president that the shutdown is “affecting the lives and livelihoods of real people right now.” Hagerty said the fix to the Interstate 40 bridge should not wait for a proposed infrastructure bill being debated in Washington.
River traffic reopened on the Mississippi River on May 14, three days after it was closed when a crack was discovered in the bridge. The span will remain closed to vehicles indefinitely, and road traffic is being rerouted.
Hagerty said he has spoken with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and “conveyed the urgency of the matter.”
Democrats have said the shutdown highlights the urgent need for more infrastructure funding.
On May 17, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics issued a report outlining the impact of the bridge closure on multimodal freight.
According to the BTS report, “rerouting traffic from the I-40 crossing to the nearby I-55 bridge is creating significant travel time increases, costing tens of thousands of trucks and commuters each day delays greater than an hour.”
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I make it sound simple but get the gov out of it and hire out to a shop independant or union tell them to fix the crack.No limit or contract just we”ll pay you when done! Rivet or weld or bolt a patch on. Do it old school- oversize the thing and get it fixed and then work on a long term “fix”. the redneck repair that will get the job done. In Minnesota they built a whole bridge in a year when the 35w went down!