孟菲斯州州际公路40号州际公路上的交通隆隆声被断断续续的钻和螺栓张紧器所取代5月11日。
The 24-hour effort, which began May 21, is the first part of a two-phase repair strategy being carried out by the Tennessee Dept. of Transportation (TDOT). It shares maintenance responsibilities with the Arkansas Dept. of Transportation (ARDOT). Working from a 100-ft platform suspended from one of the two 900-ft-long, tied-arch spans some 110 ft above the river, crews are adding more than 33,000 lb of steel plating to the 24 x 32-in. tie-girder’s 1.375-in.-thick top and bottom sections, and .5-in.-thick side sections.
TDOT副专员兼首席工程师Paul Degges说：“从维修的角度来看，第一件事是看桥，看看它是否安全地对下面的交通安全。”工人正在用54英尺长的2.5英寸厚的外板和稍短的内板来加强梁梁。板将恢复足够的稳定性，以支撑二等维修所需的重型设备，这可能包括安装高强度的钢棒，以便可以更换37英尺长的截面。
没有宣布维修费用或时间表，这些维修是根据TDOT的紧急签约机构进行的。Degges说：“我们正在新的盒子梁上完成设计。”“至少需要六到八周的时间，但是我们希望一旦完成图纸，我们就可以巩固时间表。”
Michael Baker International (MBI), ARDOT’s inspection consultant, alerted the agency to the fracture during a routine survey of the nearly 50-year-old crossing. MBI is the Engineer-of-Record with input from TDOT, ArDOT, and Kiewit Infrastructure Group.
剩下的要确定的是骨折的起源，阿多特说这可能是数十年来恒定交通而不是船舶撞击或与天气有关的原因导致的“疲劳类型”断裂。对桥梁的紧急检查没有发现其他结构问题。
未报告
关于未报告骨折的现已终止的ARDOT检查员的详细信息。
Monty Frazier, a 15-year ARDOT employee, was team leader and under-bridge inspection unit operator for the annual fracture-critical inspections conducted in September 2019 and 2020. Frazier reported no issues with the continuous welded beams that form the structure’s 110-ft-high navigation spans, but drone video from a May 2019 inspection by MBI indicated the break had begun to form.
到5月11日，Ardot官员受到警报时，领带的上部和外部法兰已经分开，而底部法兰大约破裂了50％。这座桥每天约有41,000个横梁，立即关闭。
According to ARDOT documents released through a public records request by the Hot Springs, Ark., Village Voice newspaper, Frazier told Michael Hall, the agency’s heavy bridge maintenance engineer, that it was “unsafe” to move the under-bridge inspection unit along the outside of the tie girder.
霍尔在5月14日的终止备忘录中驳斥了弗雷泽（Frazier）的主张，并指出：“标准练习是沿着领带梁蓬勃发展，寻找裂缝。”他还指出，当另一名雇员控制桥下部门时，弗雷泽（Frazier）自己就做了这一点，该单元配备了“安全功能，使人无法进入不稳定的位置”。
阿多特（Ardot）于5月17日宣布终止，没有提及弗雷泽（Frazier）的名字，并指出“员工未能正确履行其责任”，并可能面临刑事指控。Ardot正在审查由Frazier至少九个桥梁及其检查实践领导的检查。
