Inspector who missed major crack in I-40 bridge twice is fired

Little Rock, Arkansas — An inspector who twice failed to discover a crack in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee that prompted the span's closure has been fired, Arkansas transportation officials said Monday.

Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Lorie Tudor said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in May 2019. Tudor said the crack wasn't noted by the inspector in his reports that fall or the following year. "From our investigation we have determined that the same employee who conducted the inspection in both 2019 and 2020 failed to carry out his responsibilities correctly," Tudor told a news conference, CBS Little Rock, Arkansas affiliate KTHV-TV reports. "This is unacceptable."