A kayaker paddling down the Mississippi River between Arkansas and Tennessee in 2016 snapped photos of an important bridge for traffic over the river, showing a clear crack through a steel I-beam, a crack that prompted transportation officials to shut the bridge down May 9th.
According to the Associated Press, the 48-year-old I-40 bridge connecting Memphis and the Arkansas city of West Memphis had a crack that cut through a 900-foot horizontal beam, one of two that are critical to the structural integrity of the bridge.
An inspector for the Arkansas Department of Transportation called 9-1-1 to have the bridge shut down. Traffic was diverted to the four-lane, 71-year-old I-55 bridge about six miles downriver.
Barry W. Moore, 64, was kayaking down the Mississippi with a group of Boy Scouts and others when he took a photo of some of the group under the bridge. After the report of the bridge closure went public, Moore went back to look at his photos and found one clearing showing the crack.
It will take months to repair the bridge.