Bridge inspector fired

An inspector who failed to discover a crack in the Interstate 40 bridge linking Arkansas and Tennessee that prompted the span’s closure has been fired. 

The Arkansas Department of Transportation on Monday said the inspector was fired after drone video showed the crack on the bridge in May 2019. The department says the crack was not noted by the inspector in his reports that fall or the following year. 

The bridge has been closed since Tuesday after inspectors found a significant fracture in one of its steel beams. Officials have not given a timeline for when the bridge can reopen.