By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Two barges toting a fully built, 2,400-ton bridge began their trip down the Hudson River toward New York City on Tuesday.
The span is a replacement for the 109-year-old Willis Avenue Bridge, which connects Harlem to the Bronx, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The barges will take the replacement bridge to
Bayonne, N.J., where it will stay until being transported to it's final resting spot in Northern Manhattan in August.
The replacement span will be towed up the East River and under the
Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. The $612 million project that is scheduled to be completed in late 2012, the paper reported.
The swing bridge was built at the Port of Coeymans, just south of Albany, allowing the current Willis Avenue Bridge to remain open during construction.
The Port of Coeymans’ owners aim to attract more projects upstate. They said shipping bridges and other large items by water is safer and more efficient than toting them by truck, according to the WSJ.
