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Memphis Commercial Appeal
A day after the crack was discovered in a support beam, both the Tennessee-Arkansas Hernando de Soto M bridge and the waterway remained closed as officials worked to assess the damage and craft a repair plan.
In a mid-day update, Tennessee Department of Transportation chief engineer Paul Degges said he didn t know when the bridge and waterway would be reopened but that repairs could take months rather than weeks.
No one seems to know how long the river will be closed to traffic, but the longer the closure lasts, the more economically damaging the crack will be, said Mark Mestemacher, co-owner of St. Louis, Missouri-based Ceres Barge Lines and barge consulting firm Ceres Consulting. A closure that lasts a couple of days could create a backlog of boats at the bridge; a closure of more than a week could begin to be felt more widely, derailing the shipment of corn and beans from the port of New Orleans.
January 29, 2021 By Shelley Byrne
At least seven vessels have grounded in the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tenn., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., since January 22 after a period of extreme low water.
“I think it was a little bit of a perfect storm,” said Randall Chamness, chairman of the Lower Mississippi River Committee.
Chamness reported five groundings initially from January 22-24. Of those, three were on the Lower Mississippi at miles 813, 816 and 926, and the other two were on the Upper Mississippi at the 23 and 46 mile points. No one was hurt, and no sinkings or major damage took place, but three of the five resulted in barges going adrift, Chamness said.