Posted on 05/13/2021 5:33:08 AM PDT by GailA
The I 40 M Bridge going into AR from TN is out of commission, it spans the Mississippi River, NO Trucks, Cars, NO Boat traffic. Won't take long food, oil, and other necessities run low or out. https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthememphian.blob.core.windows.net%2Fsized%2F54486_960&f=1&nofb=1
Because Blue City Controlled Memphis neglected a known crack for years till a Novice could see the crack in the pillar holding up the bridge. Major Artery for traffic. Traffic backed up miles.
With the amount of traffic across it, is by God's grace it Didn't collapse.
50 year old bridge audio into 911
Looks like two angles of the same thing to me.
Yes. Some instances of watching while disaster approaches are self punishing, but this is not one of them.
uh, the Bay Bridge got a major rebuild after it failed during the Loma Prieta earthquake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland_Bay_Bridge
All joking aside various techniques for repairing broken steel are available. I both weld and use J-B Weld epoxy glue. When I was working in our families lumber mill I had a crack in the cylinder wall of one of our trucks that we did not have the time or money to take out of service for engine replacement. I took the head off ground a V in the crack and filled it with nickle rod using an arc welder. Of course I had to heat the area with a torch first to prevent the area from getting brittle. Then I crefully ground the weld down and finished it so that it would not break the piston rings. The repair lasted until the engine was worn out.
I am restoring a rare 1942 Cadillac built in Novemebr of 1941. It sat in a cow pasture for many years and had multiple cracks in the block from freezing. They were not in areas subjected to stress like in the cylinder of the truck mentioned above, so I ground a V in the cracks and filled them with JB Weld. Those repairs are also holding up well.
In this thread we are already seeing speculation from people who may or may not have a clue about what further repairs will be necessary other than just fixing the break in this section of bridge. In my experience the best solution would be to fix the problem and then let the engineers fight about what is being speculated on in the years to come. What is obviously going to happen is that this situation will be used for political purposes to wrangle more money from taxpayers for funneling to croneys connected to politicians.
What are you talking about? Those two pictures are obviously of the same beam.
It was speculated that this brought down the Silver Bridge after decades of ignoring gross deterioration.
I pray to God that you don’t think that J-B Weld is an appropriate repair for a highway bridge...
WD-40 & duct tape - cures what ails you.
The headline is misleading. I would not call the call frantic by any means. The guy was probably hanging off the side of a bridge and saw a serious problem that could have resulted in a collapse and people dying.
You two are not vey observant. Look at the pipe behind the break in the first photo.
No, wise guy, I was responding to someone who put a picture of JB Weld up. It has its uses in nonstructural repairs. I see that your ability to reason is about as sharp as your observational skills.
Shoot, couple of come-a-longs and a golden arm would have that fixed in a jiff.
Do you mean to say that the City of Memphis knew about the crack and didn't alert TDOT? That's on TDOT as much as it is on Memphis; they're supposed to be inspecting their bridges regularly.
ANd some cinder blocks...................
Isn’t that mostly for “human” infrastructure...
Life is starting to feel like the midsection of Atlas Shrugged. :(
Brand new bridge too! Out thanks to Skanska who built the darn thing and couldn’t secure their barges properly.
I worked for ten years in the private sector before getting hired by the guberment to work as a firefighter. What you see when working on the outside is not half as scary as what you see when you work on the inside. And the fire department is not as bad as most other agencies. When you drive by the typical scene with 7 workers standing around along with a seperate flagger crew holding up traffic while one guy is digging in a hole pales in comparison to the nonsense that takes place in day to day operations of the bureaucrats.
Gail Interstate upkeep and inspections is a TDOT responsibility. The regional TDOT office should have done the inspections and overseen repairs. As far as I know no Tennessee city or county does interstate upkeep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.