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The importance of navigability on the Mississippi River was highlighted this past week following temporarily closure due to a structural failure of the Hernando de Soto bridge at Memphis.  The three-day halt of movement imposed by the U.S. coast guard resulted in a backup of more than a thousand barges by late Friday, May 14th.  All traffic over the bridge on I-40 was stopped immediately following the detection of a crack in a major structural beam. Subsequent to an engineering review, it was determined that with the shutdown, the bridge was in no danger of falling into the Mississippi and accordingly barge traffic was resumed although at a slow rate and with appropriate precautions.

At Memphis, the Mississippi carries water from the Ohio and Missouri rivers and is critical to transfer corn and soybeans from the Midwest to poultry and swine installations in the southeast and for export.  Rail would be the only viable alternative to barge traffic but would be slower and more expensive.  Repair of the bridge will in all probability be a prolonged exercise and in view of the location of the damaged beam, will incur periodic disruption in barge transport both north and southbound.

Even with restoration of river traffic, there will be adverse effects on the poultry industry.  Transiting from Memphis Tennessee to West Memphis and Arkansas usually requires an eight-minute drive.  The alternative deviation will add eighty-five minutes to the journey imposing costs to the trucking industry estimated at $3 million per day.

Closure of the bridge with uncertainties concerning exports drove down commodity prices on Thursday and Friday but with restoration of barge traffic, prices will respond to normal supply and demand factors.

The de Soto bridge failure illustrates the dependency of the poultry industry on adequate, well-maintained infrastructure. Expenditure on the Interstate highway system and major waterways will be critical to the long-term profitability of the chicken industry.