The I-40 Hernando de Soto Bridge closed last week due to poor condition. The bridge closure forced the 40,000 daily vehicles — and 12,500 commercial trucks — to find other ways to cross the Mississippi river in the Memphis area.
“All traffic has been deferred to the I-55 bridge until further notice,” says Shannon Newton, Arkansas Trucking Association President. “The I-55 bridge already carries more than 55,000 vehicles a day, 14,000 of them commercial trucks. Using GPS data, we can discern that a previous eight-minute drive is now averaging 84 minutes. This additional transit time at $1.20 a minute for 26,500 trucks is costing the trucking industry more than $2.4 million each day that the bridge is closed.”
The Hernando de Soto bridge closure emphasizes the economic impact of the crumbling infrastructure. The Interstate Highway System turns 65 years old in June, which makes the Biden Administration’s proposed infrastructure plan quite timely. While the interstate system has grown to more than 46,000 miles of highway in its lifetime, it sorely needs repairs.
