Memphis, Tennessee is home to what we know is some of the best BBQ people can taste. From Memphis in May to the Grizzly games, Memphis is a key point as a gateway between East Coast and Mid West. Interstate 55 and Interstate 40 are two critical highways that connect Arkansas and Tennessee. Anyone can tell you that coming through Memphis yields two options to get across the Mississippi. The main bridge is the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (Hernando DeSoto Bridge and Bridge and the second is Harahan Bridge.
On 5/11/2021 around 8:30 am, I remember seeing a group of men rappelling and looked to have been servicing lights on the bridge. I periodically see people working on the bridge from time to time but never thought that yesterday was indeed a major incident. I received a phone call later in the day from family letting me know to stay in Memphis a bit until traffic clears as they found a major crack in the bridge and have ceased any traffic from crossing. The Hernando Desoto Bridge has three lanes on both sides with works well with traffic so I knew traveling on the old bridge would be a long wait due to two lanes on both sides. Around 10:30 pm, I made my way across the bridge only to see that traffic was moving slowly eastbound from West Memphis, Arkansas to Memphis, TN stretching more than 10 miles away. As the investigation takes place, more news is circulating on the bridge being closed for repairs which means that there will be longer commutes over to Memphis. The closure of this bridge is necessary to complete repairs but I'm curious to see how this affects the commerce and transportation industry. I suspect increased delivery dates for Amazon, FedEx, and UPS packages as all three have distribution hubs in Memphis.
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