Broken beam on Miss. bridge could disrupt U.S. economy

Though a routine inspection of Hernando de Soto Bridge over the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee, averted a possible disaster, the situation could potentially wreak havoc economically.

Inspectors on Tuesday discovered one of the bridge's beams had fractured. Officials with the Arkansas and Tennessee transportation departments, which jointly manage the bridge, described the beam as structurally important.

Workers sit on the Hernando de Soto Bridge where inspectors discovered a broken beam Tuesday, prompting officials to close the bridge and prohibit traffic on the Mississippi River from traveling under it.Arkansas Department of Transportation

Officials with those states and the Coast Guard immediately shut down vehicle traffic across the bridge and prohibited river traffic from passing under the bridge.

The bridge and river will remain closed at least until a thorough inspection is complete, and officials said that process could take several days. Repairs could take weeks or months, officials have said.

In the meantime, vehicular traffic is routing to other locations. However, there is no substitute for the Mississippi River in terms of the cargo shipped on it, including agricultural and manufacturing materiel.

According to Lt. Mark Pipkin of the Coast Guard's Lower Mississippi Sector, an average of 430,000 tons of commodities pass under the de Soto Bridge each day.

On Thursday, barges were already beginning to stack up.

"The current vessel queue is 25 northbound pushing 426 barges and 20 southbound pushing 311 barges carrying a mixture of red flag and dry cargo materials," Pipkin said.

Pipkin said a decision on river traffic will come as soon as possible.

A broken beam on the Hernando de Soto Bridge is seen Tuesday. The bridge, links Arkansas and Tennessee at Memphis and spans the Mississippi River. Officials closed the bridge and prohibited river traffic from passing under it.Arkansas Department of Transportation

"The Coast Guard is continuing to work with TDOT to determine when we can safely open the river to commercial traffic. TDOT is conducting inspections and analysis to evaluate the structural integrity of the I-40 bridge. Once we have the results of these inspections and analyses, we can make a determination if it is safe to allow maritime traffic to transit underneath the bridge," he said in an email.

Nichole Lawrence, a Tennessee Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said officials will reopen the bridge as soon as possible.

"River traffic is a top priority," she said.

Lawrence said it is possible river traffic will resume before the bridge reopens.