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A rush to judgment raises questions about bridge inspections MATT STROUD, The Daily Memphian July 24, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail 3 1of3Monty Frazier, 51, and wife Shelly Frazier, 49, pose at their Natural Dam, Ark., home. Monty Frazier is a former bridge inspector with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT), who led the 2019 and 2021 inspections of the Hernando de Soto Bridge that connects Memphis, Tenn. to Arkansas over the Mississippi River. ArDOT officials fired Frazier after a contractor identified a crack in the bridge's tie girders. (Matt Stroud/Daily Memphian via ...

Kayaker says he photographed crack in I-40 bridge in 2016 May 20, 2021 / 9:30 PM / AP Bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee has major crack A Mississippi River kayaker said photos he took about five years before a crack was found in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas appear to show the fracture that led transportation officials to close the span indefinitely last week. Arkansas transportation officials said they cannot confirm or refute what's shown in the kayaker's photos, which raise questions about how early the crack appeared. An Associated Press photo editor...

By: Associated Press MEMPHIS, Arkansas - A Mississippi River kayaker said photos he took about five years before a crack was found in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Tennessee and Arkansas appear to show the fracture that led transportation officials to close the span indefinitely last week. Arkansas transportation officials said they cannot confirm or refute what's shown in the kayaker's photos, which raise questions about how early the crack appeared. An Associated Press photo editor inspected metadata from one of the photos and determined it was shot on August 6, 2016. The I-40 bridge ...

This story has been updated with a response from the Arkansas Department of Transportation.   New photographic evidence suggests the fracture to a critical support beam in the Hernando de Soto bridge began earlier than previously thought — in August 2016.  Memphis resident Barry Moore took photos of the Hernando de Soto bridge during a kayaking trip. The Commercial Appeal verified the date and the location of the photos through the metadata embedded in the digital images. Moore said he sent the photos along to both the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Arkansas Department o...

View Comments Newly released public records identify the Arkansas bridge inspector who was fired after state officials said he missed a critical crack on the Hernando De Soto bridge, and a document says he failed to get close enough to assess a key spot in the structure.  Monty Frazier was team leader on Arkansas Department of Transportation reviews of the bridge in September 2019 and September 2020, newly released records say.  On May 11, another inspection team led by outside consultants found a badly cracked girder on the bridge. Since that day, the bridge has been shut down to vehicle...