The Arkansas Dept. of Transportation (ARDOT) has terminated the employee responsible for inspecting the Interstate-40 Mississippi River bridge after two-year-old drone footage revealed the presence of a tie-beam fracture that forced last week’s emergency shutdown.
Although state officials initially stated that the fracture in one of the 50-year-old bridge’s two tied-arch truss navigation spans was not present during its most recent inspection last September, a May 2019 drone video taken by Michael Baker International clearly shows the break already beginning to form.