“Behind The Headlines,” hosted by Eric Barnes, CEO of The Daily Memphian, airs on WKNO Fridays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 8:30 a.m. Watch the show now via the video link above or listen to the podcast version at the bottom, including an extended conversation not included in the television version.

If Memphis gets a new bridge across the Mississippi River, it will probably be a replacement for one of the two existing auto and vehicular traffic bridges instead of an addition.

And it should be funded directly by the federal government instead of as a share of federal funding that goes to Arkansas and Tennessee, according to the Greater Memphis Chamber.

Hernando DeSoto Bridge reopens fully

“It’s like peanut butter. When you take the peanut butter funding, you spread it out as far as it will go,” Greater Memphis Chamber chief public policy officer Bobby White said on the WKNO Channel 10 program “Behind The Headlines.”

“Our thing is this, we don’t need peanut butter funding,” he said. “We don’t even need a competitive grant process where we’re competing with other communities, in a way. We need a big hunk of peanut butter right here across the Mississippi River.”

White said planning construction could take a decade or more, most likely across the administrations of several presidents, governors and mayors.

Tennessee Transportation Commissioner Clay Bright, on the same show, said any push for federal funding in some form for a new bridge would have to come from state officials on both sides of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge and the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge as things stand now.

Opinion: Third bridge at Memphis essential for country

He put the cost at about $1.5 billion and noted the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s total annual budget is $2 billion.

“Are we thinking about a third bridge or are we thinking about a pure replacement bridge?” Bright said, noting the Hernando DeSoto Bridge is 48 years old this month and the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge is more than 70 years old.

“They are not going to last forever,” he said. “In my thinking, I’m thinking more of a replacement bridge. And that’s the discussion that goes forward. Do we need a third bridge for congestion? We don’t need one bridge because it does impact economic development, really across the whole country.”

Third bridge idea ‘long term,’ takes back seat to repairs

White said the fact that it affects the nation was made clear during the nearly three-month shutdown that began in May when serious structural damage was noticed by Arkansas bridge inspectors.

“This bridge isn’t Arkansas’s or Tennessee’s bridge. It’s the nation’s bridge. It belongs to the international supply chain,” he said. “For us to take an arm on that – everybody benefits but only two states pay for it -- that’s where we have a challenge.”

The challenge came up in recent meetings with federal transportation officials, White said.

With next bridge inspection a month away, ArDOT still lacks clear plan

Meanwhile, Bright said the preliminary estimate for repairs to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge is about $10 million to be split evenly between Arkansas and Tennessee.

Both states are talking about how the bridge is inspected and maintained going forward.

The arrangement since the bridge was opened in the early 1970s was that Arkansas transportation teams inspect the bridge and Tennessee maintains and repairs the bridge. That was how the bridge damage, repair and closing was handled.

An Arkansas Department of Transportation inspector was fired soon after another Arkansas inspection crew on the bridge May 11 for a scheduled inspection noticed the damage. The bridge was immediately closed to all traffic.

Reporting by The Daily Memphian turned up some problems with Arkansas inspection procedures, including a crane used for visual “arm’s length” inspection of the bridge.

One cracked bridge. One person fired. A troubling rush to judgment raises major questions about bridge inspections

ArDOT officials recently told The Daily Memphian they aren’t sure what procedure will be used in September for the next scheduled inspection of the bridge.

“The last time it was visited was in 1973,” Bright said of the two-page agreement. “Between us and Arkansas, we had been going through a new agreement really starting this spring before it happened. We are trying to update that agreement. But in light of everything that’s gone on, I think it’s going to be a different look at that.”

Bright pointed out that ultra sound technology was used during the bridge shutdown, which included inspecting hundreds of welds on the structure after the initial damage was repaired.

The result was new plating for 17 other areas of the bridge where other damage was found.