Bridge floats down the river

A swing bridge is loaded atop a pair of barges in the Hudson River in Coeymans, N.Y., Monday (Photos by Tim Roske/Associated Press)

This falls into the category of amusing transportation news from elsewhere.

We're used to using bridges to cross rivers, but it's not often that we see a bridge floating down a river. That's happening in New York right now.

A 350-foot-long bridge built at an upstate Hudson River port for the New York City Department of Transportation has started its voyage downriver aboard two barges welded together.

An employee at the Port of Coeymans (KWEE'-mihnz) says the barges left the dock shortly after 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. Two tugboats are pulling the barges and the replacement for the Willis Avenue Bridge at about 5 mph and expect to arrive in Bayonne, N.J. on Wednesday.

The 2,400-ton bridge will lay over in Bayonne until early August, when it will be hauled 15 miles north to a site just south of the existing bridge linking Manhattan and the Bronx. The new bridge is scheduled to open this fall.

-- Associated Press