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By Cecile Entleitner, Associate, Blakey & Agnew
Over the past month, President Biden has continued to meet with congressional transportation leaders on both sides of the aisle to reach an agreement on a large infrastructure package. Several committees with jurisdiction over surface transportation are working toward their self-appointed deadline of advancing a reauthorization bill through their respective committees by Memorial Day. Unexpected supply chain disruptions with significant national impacts – transpiring during Infrastructure Week – have underscored the need for immediate action and substantial investment in our nation's infrastructure.
On May 11, inspectors identified a crack in the Hernando de Soto Bridge on Interstate 40 over the Mississippi River near Memphis, TN – one of the country's busiest and most important freight hubs. The 48-year-old bridge connecting Tennessee and Arkansas serves as a major multimodal freight route, supporting approximately 50,000 vehicles per day – a quarter of which are heavy-duty trucks. Passing underneath the bridge is maritime traffic transporting over 171 million short tons annually in goods through this segment of the waterway. Following the discovery of the fracture, river traffic was halted for three days, causing a backup of over 60 vessels hauling more than 1,000 barges, which primarily move soybeans, corn, fuel oil, crude petroleum, and gasoline through the region. The U.S. Coast Guard determined on May 14 that maritime transit under the bridge was safe to resume. However, the I-40 bridge will remain closed to vehicular traffic until repairs are made. The bridge is overseen by both the Tennessee and Arkansas Departments of Transportation, with the Tennessee DOT responsible for its maintenance and the Arkansas DOT for its biannual inspections. Tennessee DOT is assessing interim repair options to potentially reopen the bridge until a permanent replacement component can be completed.
In the meantime, most road traffic has been diverted to the 71-year-old Memphis & Arkansas Bridge on Interstate 55, the closest alternative route. According to the Arkansas Trucking Association, travel times to cross the Mississippi River have increased from an average of eight minutes to an average of 84 minutes and the group estimates these delays could cost the trucking industry at least $2.4 million each day that the Hernando de Soto Bridge remains closed. Due to these supply chain disruptions as a result of aging infrastructure, several regional stakeholders – including the Greater Memphis Chamber and Mayor Lee Harris of Shelby County, TN – have advocated for the development of a third bridge to support this major freight corridor.
The I-40 bridge closure, once again, illustrated the importance of supply chain efficiency as well as the broad regional and national impacts of congested freight bottlenecks. Many federal policymakers noted how this real-world example of crumbling infrastructure highlighted the need for increased investment in transportation infrastructure. Democrats pointed to the $115 billion in proposed funding under the White House's American Jobs Plan for road and bridge improvements, which includes a commitment to fix the 10 most economically significant large bridges in the country in need of reconstruction and repair an additional 10,000 smaller bridges – with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg stating, "We need first-rate infrastructure if we want to have a first-place
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economy. This is a matter of economic competitiveness, as well as safety and wellbeing." Congressional Republicans, including Senator Hagerty (R-TN) and Senator Boozman (R-AR), reiterated their objections to the Administration's wide-ranging infrastructure plan and instead called for targeted investments in traditional infrastructure, with a focus on roads and bridges.
The same week, U.S. infrastructure supply chains took another hit when a cyberattack shut down the critical Colonial Pipeline, which provides approximately 45 percent of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to the East Coast. Operations were halted for five days on the 5,500-mile pipeline, which resulted in panic-buying and shortages in many gas stations across the country reminiscent of the empty supermarket shelves at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts were most significant throughout the Southeast of the country, the same region that would soon face the simultaneous logistical disruptions of the I-40 bridge closure.
In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation took swift action to provide increased regulatory flexibility for impacted transportation entities to mitigate immediate disruptions as well as ripple effects over the coming weeks. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a Regional Emergency Declaration, covering 17 states and the District of Columbia, to provide temporary hours of service exemptions for drivers transporting fuel products. In collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration, FMCSA also notified certain states that they have the authority to permit overweight loads on tank fuel trucks driving across state and federal highways. Additionally, the Federal Railroad Administration worked with rail operators to determine their capacity for transporting fuel from inland ports and the Maritime Administration initiated a process to assist the Department of Homeland Security in considering temporary waivers of the Jones Act.
Addressing the Colonial Pipeline incident as well as other recent cyberattacks, President Biden issued an Executive Order on May 12 titled, "Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity." The order aims to strengthen national cyber defenses, including those against critical domestic infrastructure, by requiring software purchased by the federal government to meet certain security and encryption standards, establishing a Cybersecurity Safety Review Board, and creating a "standardized playbook" for federal agencies to respond to cyber incidents. Considering many vital infrastructure assets are owned and operated by the private sector, the Administration strongly encourages these companies to develop their own protection measures consistent with federal guidelines.
Blakey & Agnew, LLC is a public affairs and
communications consulting firm based in
Washington, DC.
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