CONSTRUCTION DEFECT JOURNAL

"News and Information for Construction Defect and Claims Professionals"

CONSTRUCTION DEFECT JOURNAL - ISSUE 242749 - MONDAY, JULY 14, 2025

As Fracture Questions Remain, Team Raced to Save Mississippi River Bridge

Hands joined in team let's go gesture

A team of Michael Baker International, HNTB and Kiewit scrambled to implement permanent repairs for the bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas.

September 6, 2021
Jim Parsons - Engineering News-Record

"How is this bridge still standing?”
That was the initial reaction of Aaron Stover, Michael Baker International’s vice president and regional bridge practice lead, as he first studied images of a fractured tie beam that forced the May 11 emergency shutdown of the I-40/Hernando de Soto Bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas. Discovered by chance earlier in the day during MBI’s routine above-deck inspection, the fracture on the bridge’s eastbound span affected nearly half the cross-section of a 26-in. by 33-in. welded girder supporting one of the 50-year-old structure’s 900-ft-long, 100-ft-high arched navigation spans across the Mississippi River.

Reprinted courtesy of Jim Parsons, Engineering News-Record

ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com

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