by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) were jointly awarded on Friday (July 12) a $393.75 million grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation to use toward the replacement of the Interstate 55 bridge over the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn.

ARDOT and TDOT were co-applicants for the grant to replace the aging, 75-year-old bridge. Federal officials announced the historic grant, allowing the project to move forward. A press conference is scheduled for Thursday, July 18 in Memphis to provide more details.

The grant is funded through the Bridge Investment Program under President Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which received no votes from Arkansas’ all GOP Congressional delegation.

$893 million committed to I-55 bridge replacement on Arkansas-Tennessee border

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Officials still are unsure when repairs to the Interstate 40 bridge will be complete, and it will not be reopened to even partial traffic until finished. Tennessee Department of Transportation Community Relations Officer Nicole Lawrence told Talk Business & Politics there have been no significant issues in repairing the fractured beam that closed the bridge in early May.

When the I-40 bridge, the busiest freight carrying bridge in the U.S., was shut down May 11 after a fracture was discovered in a primary support beam, the flow of goods came to a standstill. Traffic was choked on I-55 in the weeks after the closure and it led to long wait times for motorists and big trucks carrying goods.

The trucking industry has absorbed over $70 million in unanticipated costs since the closure, according to the Arkansas Trucking Association. However, the latest data on traffic congestion suggests that the average cost to the trucking industry has reduced from an estimated $2.4 million to $936,000 a day.

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/06/no-timeline-on-i-40-bridge-repair-completion-lane-changes-save-truckers-more-than-1-million-per-day/