URGENT 911 CALL: “We Need to Get People Off the Bridge Immediately”

Desperate bridge inspectors pleaded with 911 operators to evacuate the Hernando-Desoto Bridge after they discovered a massive break in the steel structure.

“We need to get people off the bridge immediately,” one inspector told a 911 dispatcher.

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The Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River was eventually shut down and is expected to remain closed for months as repairs are being made.

“I am doing a bridge inspection on the I-40 Mississippi River bridge,” the inspector said. We just found a super critical find and we need traffic shut down on the I-40 Mississippi River bridge. I have already called and talked to the ARDOT people and they are working on it. We need to get people off the bridge as soon as possible. We need to get people off the bridge immediately.”

Inspectors were conducting the first day of inspection of the Hernando de Soto Bridge when they spotted a crack in one of the beams that help keep that bridge standing, Fox 13 Memphis reports.

“The structural crack, as engineers call it, could have caused a disaster had it not been caught,” the television station reported.

The shutdown has caused massive traffic delays as motorists have been diverted to the older Interstate 55 span across the river. It’s the only way for some 50,000 cars and trucks to travel through the city.

“I do think it’s a long-term fix, which means there’s going to be some inconvenience for Memphis drivers as they try to negotiate I-55,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told television station WREG.

Wake Up Memphis with Tim Van Horn will have live coverage of the bridge closures along with real-time traffic reports from Commander Chuck and Grace Baker in the KWAM newsroom.