Arkansas got welcome infrastructure news with the July 12 announcement that it would receive a $393 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund the building of a new Interstate 55 bridge to span the Mississippi River between West Memphis and Memphis.
Officials say the new I-55 bridge is expected to cost $800 million, which seems a rather low estimate, and it will replace what locals call the “old bridge” connecting Arkansas and Tennessee. The old bridge earned its name because it opened in 1949, 24 years before the opening of the Interstate 40 “new bridge” 3 miles north.
The new I-55 bridge will be an improvement over the existing span and not just because it will be brand-spanking new. Early designs, which haven’t been finalized, call for six lanes and an ample emergency lane and shoulder that will allow the bridge to handle as many as 64,000 vehicles daily.
Also, the Arkansas Department of Transportation points out it will be built to withstand a possible earthquake since Memphis is within range of the New Madrid Fault Line.
The current I-55 bridge handles about 45,000 vehicles daily, while the repaired I-40 bridge handles about 40,000. The Mississippi River crossing is a vital connector for the country’s interstate highway network. When the I-40 bridge was knocked out of service, the Arkansas Trucking Association estimated it cost the trucking industry $2 million daily because of traffic delays and detours.
The old bridge will go out heroically after serving as the only working connection between West Memphis and Memphis for a few months in 2021 after a dangerous crack was discovered in a critical support beam on the I-40 bridge. The old bridge handled the increased traffic well for a structure decades past its prime, but it also underscored the need for a modern bridge to cross the Mississippi River.
“That emergency closure certainly put the spotlight on the importance of having reliable, safe passage from Arkansas to Tennessee. The economic importance is tremendous for the region and the country,” ARDOT spokesman Dave Parker said.
Arkansas and Tennessee will officially share the $393 million grant. The funds are available through the Bridge Investment Program under the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, which was signed by President Joe Biden in 2021. The two states’ departments of transportation have also pledged $250 million for the project.
“I’m proud of the collaboration between Arkansas, Tennessee and other regional stakeholders to help secure this important infrastructure funding for our region,” ARDOT Director Lorie Tudor said after the announcement.
The current I-55 bridge has been the topic of conversation and study for years, as one would expect with a major interstate bridge. The debate was whether to build a third bridge or replace the existing I-55 bridge; the choice was made to replace.
ARDOT’s Steve Frisbee, the organization’s assistant chief engineer of operations, told me back in 2021 that the I-55 bridge was still structurally sound. Two bridges were sufficient to handle the cross-river traffic capacity, but a modern bridge was needed.
“We don’t need a third bridge based on capacity, but some day the old bridge needs to be replaced,” Frisbee said in 2021.
A 2023 report by ARDOT and its Tennessee counterpart came to the same conclusion. A replacement bridge was never going to happen, though, without federal funding. The infrastructure act made that possible.
The bridge isn’t going up overnight, of course. Designs have to be finalized and bids sought, etc., etc.
Parker estimated that construction would start in 2027 with no predicted completion date at this early stage.
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