[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 83 (Thursday, May 13, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, in the beginning of this week because of the 
routine inspection by the Department of Transportation in Arkansas, it 
was discovered that the Hernando De Soto Bridge that crosses the 
Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas had a major crack in a 
structural beam. As a result, that bridge which carries 50,000 cars 
across it and much of America's commerce along I-40 is closed, and it 
may be closed for as much as months--not days or weeks, but months.
  Traffic is diverted to a 1949 bridge, the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, 
which is currently serving the need, but it is difficult, and it is 
causing traffic problems in Memphis.
  Mr. Speaker, 700 barges are stopped on the Mississippi River--370 
going south and 330 going north--which cannot go under the bridge for 
fear that the bridge could fall and not support its own weight and 
damage the barges.
  I am calling on the Department of Transportation to get involved, to 
lend its expertise, and to lend money and finances to get this bridge 
open. This is a national tragedy, and it shows why we need an 
infrastructure bill immediately.

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