Memphis bridge closed due to crack

[MillCreek]

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/12/996407481/cracked-memphis-bridge-remains-indefinitely-closed-disrupting-supply-chain?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0pg0hHGOJ-mr6ewlMeYT-9S96hnkYqPZ7hKpluayQxsdk1kihmU8aY8qU

I don't have my civil engineering boards hanging on the wall, so how does one go about fixing a major crack in a major structural beam?  Do you have to cut out and replace the beam, can you weld a patch over it, or what?

[WLJ]

[HankB]

[RocketMan]

Weld some paperclips over it.  I think that's what they did with the bridge in Minneapolis some years ago.

[Ron]

If one beam has a crack I suspect they will check all of them before starting repairs.

I also suspect they will revisit the blueprints and recheck everything to make sure this isn't the result of a design flaw.

No engineering background here either, but I did stay at a ... 

[Boomhauer]

This is exactly what happens when you let politicians steal the money destined for repairs and replacement of infrastructure. Of course those same politicians then decry the crises they created and if you don’t hurry up and vote for more taxes and funding you hate infrastructure.

[WLJ]

This is exactly what happens when you let politicians steal the money destined for repairs and replacement of infrastructure. Of course those same politicians then decry the crises they created and if you don’t hurry up and vote for more taxes and funding you hate infrastructure.

A day or two before Obama announced his grand trillion dollar infrastructure plan they found a crack and panic closed the I-64 bridge over the Ohio here in Louisville. Obama in his speech then used it as example of why we needed to pass his plan. Turned out the crack had been there since the bridge opened in the 50s. We did get two new 4 billion dollars bridges that they had been dragging their feet on out of the deal and it now cost $4 to cross our bridges except for one. Someone decided it would be racist if the local access one wasn't left free.

Edit: $4.31 one way

[WLJ]

The new bridge deal also cost us something like $300* million to dig a tunnel under the house of a friend of Yarmuth who refused to move. Before Yarmuth was elected they were going to force the guy out. After Y's election suddenly we had to dig a tunnel under the guy's "historic" house. After the tunnel was done the guy moved. Nothing suspicious about that at all.

* Hard to find an exact figure.

[MillCreek]

Here in the Seattle area, they are looking at a multi-million dollar repair of the West Seattle bridge, a concrete high-rise bridge that is the main point of access to West Seattle.  A routine inspection found a number of significant cracks in the concrete, and they have hired many concrete and engineering experts to try and find out what gives. The City of Seattle is now thinking about using car license tabs revenue to pay for the repairs.

[Ron]

Bridge repair costs aren't covered by the last infrastructure bill?

When was the last time an infrastructure bill was passed? Obama?

Considering all the talk about infrastructure you would think we would have seen Federal funding pass.

[MechAg94]

Bridge repair costs aren't covered by the last infrastructure bill?

When was the last time an infrastructure bill was passed? Obama?

Considering all the talk about infrastructure you would think we would have seen Federal funding pass.

States pass infrastructure funding every year.  Or at least they tax people for infrastructure.  Is is spent on infrastructure?

[Bogie]

How things happen in St. Louis.
 
A project goes up for bids. Preference is given to "small disadvantaged businesses" in most things. Usually minority friends of the administration. Someone will win the contract. They will then hire a firm which can actually complete the project, and maintain a trailer on the project site to "inspect." In reality, the same big construction companies do the work, and the graft happens.

[Hawkmoon]

That's not a "crack" -- that's what we call a "break."

And that "crack" didn't happen overnight. That had to have been there for a long time, and it did start out as a crack. I'd like to know how many previous bridge inspections missed it.

[Brad Johnson]

It'll buff right out.

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

The fact that the bridge didn't collapse is testimony to the important of redundancy in the design of critical structures. As my first year structural engineering professor put it, "Stress goes where there's material there to resist it." Back in the early 1980s there was a bridge on I-95 in Connecticut that didn't have redundancy in its design. It collapsed into the river, killing a few people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianus_River_Bridge

About three (or so) years ago, there was a break somewhat similar to this one in a bridge on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where it crosses from Pennsylvania into New Jersey. That one, too, was saved by a redundant design. One member failed, but the remaining structure had sufficient excess carrying capacity that the bridge didn't collapse.

[MechAg94]

That's not a "crack" -- that's what we call a "break."

And that "crack" didn't happen overnight. That had to have been there for a long time, and it did start out as a crack. I'd like to know how many previous bridge inspections missed it.

Agreed.  A crack indicates the beam is not fully broken. 

[just Warren]

There was a business here closed due to crack.

[griz]

That's not a "crack" -- that's what we call a "break."

And that "crack" didn't happen overnight. That had to have been there for a long time, and it did start out as a crack. I'd like to know how many previous bridge inspections missed it.

That was my first thought.  Somebody who never had an engineering class could see that from a boat on the river and just know that was a problem.  How did it get that far?

By the way, it may have happened before but this is the first time I've heard of the inspectors calling 911 to get the bridge shut down. 

[French G.]

Not an engineer but a steelworker and leftover airplane inspector. In my mind everything is suspect and a thorough inspection starts with the paperwork for all the steel in that heat when it got made and goes from there. All prior inspections, metallurgical analysis, and the whole bridge inspected. Cyclic fatigue isn’t fun so this isn’t just a weld a stiffening plate on it and move on fix.

[Grandpa Shooter]

https://www.wdrb.com/news/national/mississippi-river-traffic-resumes-under-damaged-bridge/article_fe198301-edcf-5d3b-bb3b-0d60916d3cec.html

It is ok to go under, but not over.

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I wonder how many crackheads are circling under the bridge looking for fallout ...

Woody

[230RN]

It was a stress-relief crack.

So now that the stress has been relieved, we can forget about it.

[WLJ]

An unidentified inspector who failed to discover a crack in the Hernando de Soto Bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee that prompted the span’s closure was fired Monday morning and may face charges, according to reports.

Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Lorie Tudor said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in May 2019.

Tudor said all "fracture critical" bridges that had been inspected by the fired employee will be re-inspected.

Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Lorie Tudor said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in May 2019.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/hernando-de-soto-bridge-inspector-fired-for-not-flagging-crack-in-span

ARDOT says inspector who did 2019 & 2020 I-40 bridge inspection has been fired
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpGDMQ0cvd4

Drone footage from 2019.
https://youtu.be/qmbeDO53TK8?t=19

Still from the drone footage. How could someone miss that? Yikes!

[Grandpa Shooter]

If they have drone footage from 2019, why did it take until 2021 to close the bridge.  Was the fired inspector the only one who viewed the footage?

[Hawkmoon]

If they have drone footage from 2019, why did it take until 2021 to close the bridge.  Was the fired inspector the only one who viewed the footage?

The drone footage is a tool to facilitate the inspection. The inspection product is the written condition report, and that's almost certainly what the superiors reviewed. The report didn't mention any cracks, so the supervisors assumed everything was okay.