Repairs to cracked interstate bridge could take months

摘要

Repairs to the Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee could take months after a crack was found inthe span, forcing thousands of trucks and cars to detour and shutting down shipping on a section of theMississippi River, a transportation official said yesterday.A congressional Democrat from Tennessee flagged the crack as a warning sign of the urgent need to act on fixesto the nation's infrastructure. Republican U.S. senators also pointed out the need for infrastructure spendingwhile criticizing President Biden's plan.The six-lane bridge into Memphis was shut down Tuesday afternoon after inspectors found a "significantfracture" in one of two 900-foot horizontal steel beams that are crucial for the bridge's integrity, said Lorie Tudor,director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.