Employee fired for missing I-40 bridge problems in 2019 and 2020 inspections
LORIE TUDOR: Highway director says more investigation of failure is planned.
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The
Arkansas Department of Transportation announced today it had fired an unidentified bridge inspector who missed structural failures in the
Interstate 40 bridge in 2019 and 2020.
The bridge was closed to traffic last Tuesday when a fractured beam was discovered in the nearly 50-year-old span.
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Lorie Tudor, director of ARDOT, said the agency had confirmed the accuracy of a drone photograph that detected a fracture in the bridge as early as 2019. The same employee tasked with finding this problem “failed to carry out responsibilities correctly.” He was fired this morning and the matter has been referred to federal authorities to say whether further investigation “criminal or otherwise” was warranted. He was said to be an employee of about 15 years. He was the team leader of a four- to six
AP
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. An inspector who failed to discover a crack in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee that prompted the span’s closure has been fired, Arkansas transportation officials said Monday.
Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Lorie Tudor said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in May 2019. Tudor said the crack was not noted by the inspector in his reports that fall or the following year.
“This is unacceptable,” Tudor said at a news conference. The department did not immediately name the employee and said the incident is also being referred to federal investigators.