Memphis residents are invited Thursday to hear about the $787.5 million bridge proposed to replace the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, also called the I-55 Bridge or “old bridge.”
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will host the session scheduled for Thursday from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at the Central Station Hotel’s Amtrak Station. Another public meeting will come next week in West Memphis at the Eugene Woods Civic Center Center on April 25th, from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
As those talks begin, work continues on the current I-55 Bridge and its interchange. For more than a year, crews have replaced the old cloverleaf interchange and replaced much of the bridge’s worn-out decking.
That work began back in 2009 with public hearings at Central Station, before its conversion into a hotel and when it was still owned and operated by the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). Hearings and approvals continued until the project was sent of for bids in 2022. That project is slated for completion early next year.
The new bridge, which TDOT is calling, “America’s River Crossing,” would completely replace the old bridge, which would be demolished. Construction on the new 1.5 mile span over the Mississippi River could begin as soon as 2026 and be complete as early as 2030, according to state documents.
“America’s River Crossing” was the name given to the idea of a new, third bridge over the river pushed by the Greater Memphis Chamber in 2021. At the time, the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge was the only bridge across the river in Memphis. The newer Hernando DeSoto Bridge was closed at the time after officials discovered a crack in the structure.
Even though the new bridge project would still leave Memphis with only two bridges (St. Louis has 10), the Chamber appears to be on board the new project, retweeting information to Thursday’s public meeting.
The old bridge needs replacing, officials say, because its condition and recent appraisals have “raised concerns.” The bridge is 75 years old. It does not meet current seismic standards, which could put drivers in dangers should an earthquake occur. Retrofitting the bridge could cost between $250 million to $500 million, according to a state report.
Also, the old bridge is small. It has two, 10-foot travel lanes in each direction separated by a concrete divider, with two-foot shoulders on each side of the roadway.
”The existing I-55 bridge was not designed to handle the current or future volume of daily traffic, or truck volume, resulting in significant mobility and safety concerns,” reads the report, noting traffic counts there could be as high as 58,000 daily in 2030. “With traffic forecasts indicating substantial growth, the need for a new bridge becomes apparent, demanding increased capacity and improved traffic operations.”
The new bridge would add a new lane in each direction, for a total of six lanes, and have 12-foot shoulders on both sides of the roadway.
The new version would increase capacity, making for smoother, safer flow of traffic and freight. For these and other reasons, the financial benefit of a new bridge could be as high as $529 million, the state said.
The old bridge has higher-than-normal rates of crashes and bottlenecks, too. The state report found the bridge crash rate was 86 percent higher than the statewide average. The bridge also ranks in the top 10 percent of bottleneck headed south and 12 percent of bottlenecks northbound. Both are attributed to congestion.
A new bridge could cost up to $787.5 million. To pay for it, TDOT has request $393.7 million from the Federal Highway Adminstration. The other half would be split between TDOT and the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Tennessee’s portion would flow from dedicated funds in the Transportation Modernization Act, which included $3.3 billion for public projects.
Find a fact sheet here.
