Fox News Flash top headlines for May 20
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
Photos taken by a Mississippi River kayaker about five years before a crack was found in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas appear to show the fracture that led transportation officials to close the span indefinitely last week.
Arkansas transportation officials said they cannot confirm or refute what’s shown in the 2016 photos, which raise questions about how early the crack appeared.
The I-40 bridge connecting Memphis and the Arkansas city of West Memphis was shut down May 11 after inspectors found a crack in one of two 900-foot (275-meter) horizontal steel beams that are critical for the bridge’s structural integrity. River barge traffic under the span was closed that day but reopened three days later. Road traffic has been rerouted to the nearby Interstate 55 bridge.
FILE - This undated photo released by the Tennessee Department of Transportation shows a crack in a steel beam on the Interstate 40 bridge, near Memphis, Tenn. An inspector who failed to discover the crack in the bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee that prompted the span's closure has been fired. The Arkansas Department of Transportation on Monday, May 17, 2021, said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge in May 2019. (Tennessee Department of Transportation via AP, File)
HERNANDO DE SOTO BRIDGE INSPECTOR FIRE FOR NOT FLAGGING CRACK IN SPAN
Repairs to the heavily used, six-lane I-40 bridge are expected to begin this week, but a long-term fix could take months, officials said. The states are relying on the four-lane, 71-year-old I-55 bridge to get cars and trucks across the Mississippi River and maintain the flow of commercial vehicles. Engineers are inspecting the I-55 bridge to make sure it can withstand the heavier traffic.
Barry W. Moore, 64, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he took the photos while kayaking on the Mississippi River in August 2016 with a group of friends from the Boy Scouts, where he volunteers. Moore said he stored the images in his computer after the trip and went back to look for them after he heard about the discovery of the crack.
Moore said he zoomed in on the photos, found the crack and showed them to his brother.
"Our jaws dropped," Moore said.
An Associated Press photo editor inspected metadata from one of Moore's photos and determined it was shot on Aug. 6, 2016, verifying its authenticity.
Moore said he sent the photos to the state transportation departments in Tennessee and Arkansas. He heard back from the Arkansas Department of Transportation this week, he said.
This photo shows the Interstate 40 Bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas on Friday, May 14, 2021, in Memphis, Tenn. The bridge has been closed since a crack in the span was found May 11. Arkansas transportation officials said Tuesday that an inspector who failed to discover the crack has been fired. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Arkansas Department of Transportation spokesman Dave Parker said the agency went back through its photos of the bridge dating back to the early 2000s and couldn’t find any confirming or refuting the 2016 pictures. The department, which inspects the bridge at least annually, did not have access to drone videos for its inspections before 2019.
"I can’t really comment as to the accuracy of these photos," Parker said.
The kayaker’s pictures, which were first reported by WMC-TV in Memphis, bring into question just how long the crack had been visible in the bridge’s structure.
Adel Abdelnaby, an engineer and University of Memphis professor who has been closely watching the I-40 bridge situation, reviewed the photos for the AP. He said it appears the break in the beam could have been present before 2016 because fatigue cracks take time to develop, and the beam shown in Moore's photo was already corroded.
"Based on research and science, this crack took so much time," said Abdelnaby, who has inspected bridges and performs fatigue tests on bridge beams as part of his research. "It developed as a very small crack before 2016, and it took its time to propagate."
The cause of the crack has not been officially determined, but Tennessee Department of Transportation chief engineer Paul Degges has said that fatigue of having 50,000 vehicles pass daily on the bridge could be a contributing factor.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
On Monday, the Arkansas transportation department fired the inspector who missed the crack in the bridge’s 2019 and 2020 inspections. The employee, whom the department has not yet identified, was fired after the department said the crack was visible in 2019 drone video of the bridge.
The Arkansas DOT has also referred the incident to federal investigators and said it is reinspecting all the "fracture critical" bridges that had been reviewed by the fired employee.
Moore said he feels like he performed a public service by sharing the photos.
"I’m just glad I took photos," said Moore, who lives in the Memphis suburb of Collierville and is retired. "I think the engineers need to know what state it was really in five years ago."
True Crime
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.
