I-40 bridge over Mississippi River fully reopens, officials say

Traffic heads along Interstate 40 near the Hernando de Soto Bridge Monday afternoon in this screenshot of video provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Traffic heads along Interstate 40 near the Hernando de Soto Bridge Monday afternoon in this screenshot of video provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

The Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River at Memphis has reopened, according to the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

The six-lane Hernando de Soto Bridge had been closed since May 11, when a crack was discovered in a steel beam.

After a considerable amount of repair work on the cracked beam and efforts to reinforce welds on other parts of the bridge, the eastbound lanes were reopened Saturday night. The westbound lanes will reopen today.

"The contractor has completed the work and clean up in the westbound lanes," Nichole Lawrence, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, said in an update late Monday morning. "All westbound lanes will reopen this afternoon by 3 p.m.!"

Ramps previously closed along Interstate 40 westbound will be reopening, according to the update.

Earlier, the westbound lanes weren't scheduled to reopen until Friday.

The bridge was built in 1973.

Since its closure, traffic has been routed to the 71-year-old Memphis and Arkansas bridge, about 3 miles to the south on Interstate 55.

The Tennessee Transportation Department oversees repairs of the shared bridge, while the Arkansas department is responsible for inspections.

This story has been updated. It was originally published at 12:22 p.m.

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