Local, state and federal officials came together Thursday in view of the I-55 bridge’s stretch over the Mississippi River to boast the first major step in replacing the dated structure: securing the money.
Roughly half of the estimated $800 million project will be paid for in federal funding as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law pushed through under the Biden administration in 2021. The federal portion is currently set at more than $393 million.
The Tennessee and Arkansas Departments of Transportation will also contribute up to an additional $250 million apiece for what’s being dubbed “America’s River Crossing Project.”
For decades some have been calling for additional capacity for vehicles traveling between Memphis and Arkansas.
Leaders say rebuilding the 75-year-old bridge is the largest transportation investment ever in Tennessee.
Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen, who serves on the house transportation committee, said helping secure enough federal funding to pay for the initiative is a highlight of his congressional career.
“You don’t get $400 million hardly ever. You never do,” he said after a press conference held at the National Metal Museum. “This bridge is a big deal.”
While Cohen struck a more partisan tone in his remarks, other speakers including Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt focused on the general bipartisan nature of infrastructure.
“We don’t ask your voter registration when you cross our roads or on our bridges,” he said. “We have no Democratic highways, no Republican bridges, just one transportation system that truly unites us.”
The current Memphis-Arkansas bridge, also known as the “Old Bridge,” sees about 46,000 vehicles per day on four lanes. Its replacement — a design still in the works with more lanes — could accommodate 64,000 vehicles daily as transportation needs grow.
Tennessee Transportation Commissioner Butch Eley says the new bridge will increase safety and also be better equipped for natural disasters.
“Right now this [old] bridge is not seismically retrofitted to be able to sustain an earthquake. We know that we’re sitting on a major fault line right here where we stand today, and so eventually we’ll have an issue there,” Eley told reporters. “The new bridge will be fitted in a way that it can sustain an earthquake. ”
TDOT has not released a timeline of when construction will begin. The plans have the new bridge being built alongside the old one in phases.
