It must have been a disturbing call in early May to 911. “We have made an extremely dangerous discovery. All people must be evacuated from the bridge as soon as possible.” Engineers had discovered a major fracture in one of the girders of the famous arch bridge at Memphis and were so alarmed that they immediately called 911 instead of their own headquarters.
The arch bridge is an example of how poor maintenance is on many roads in America. The country is far behind other western countries in terms of infrastructure and is not even in the top 10 (but in 13th place) according to the World Economic Forum. More than 230,000 bridges are in dire need of repair.
If it is up to President Biden, that will soon change with his new infrastructure plan. The Democrats and Republicans have long negotiated it. The Senate will vote on it next week. If they vote in favour, this will be the first bill they jointly adopt.
detour
Since the call from the engineers, the Hernando de Soto Bridge near Memphis has been closed and busy traffic with some 60,000 vehicles a day has to make a detour via another bridge further away. Truck drivers who would otherwise take thirty minutes to pick up their load are now on the road for six hours.
For trucker Clifton Hughey, it not only costs extra time, but also money. He is paid per kilometer and not per hour. He said it could have all been prevented if politicians in Washington had invested in infrastructure earlier.
Watch his story here:
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