New York Times: ‘Get People Off’: Shutdown Ordered for Cracked Bridge in Memphis

I spent the night in Memphis last month.

I just crossed this bridge as usual with my family.

New York Times:

“NASHVILLE — It was meant to be a routine inspection. But when an engineer climbed out onto the Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River this week, what he saw led to an urgent call to 911: “We need to get people off the bridge immediately!”

He had spotted a crack. He could not miss it, really. A critical beam was fractured to the point of being nearly severed.

The Hernando de Soto Bridge, which reaches from downtown Memphis into Arkansas, is inspected every two years, so the crack could have been there for weeks, months or well over a year. But in that moment, the inspector stressed to the 911 dispatcher on Tuesday, the bridge needed to be shut down right away to avert a disaster.

Since Tuesday, vehicles have been blocked from crossing over the bridge and vessels from passing beneath it. Officials are unsure just how long the shutdown will last, stirring fears of delays and disruption that could reach far beyond Memphis …”

Do you know what virtually everyone agrees on in this country?

It is taxing the wealthy and corporations and closing loopholes in the tax code in order to invest in real infrastructure like roads, bridges, ports and airports. It is the politicians in Washington who can’t find a consensus on this issue!