A terminated Arkansas Dept. of Transportation bridge inspector claims safety concerns associated with inspection equipment prevented him from spotting a tie-girder fracture that has forced a potentially months-long closure of the I-40 Mississippi River bridge near Memphis.
Monty Frazier, a 15-year ARDOT employee, served as team leader and under-bridge inspection unit operator for the agency’s scheduled annual fracture-critical inspections of the 50-year-old, 9,400-ft-long span, conducted in early September 2019 and 2020. Although Frazier reported no issues with the 24x32 in continuous welded beams that form the structure’s 900-ft-long, 110-ft-high arched navigation spans, drone video from a separate May 2019 inspection conducted by Michael Baker International indicated the crack had already begun to form on the tie-girder’s exterior.