Lake Champlain Bridge gets final piece

CROWN POINT -- The center arch span for the new Lake Champlain Bridge arrived by barge Friday and was being hoisted into place, another step in relinking New York and Vermont over the lake's southern end.

The 402-foot, 1.8-million-pound arch began its journey on two barges around 6 a.m. Friday from its construction site at a marina in Port Henry. Two tug boats pushed the barges 2 miles across the lake and delivered the arch to the bridge site by 8 a.m.

Crews then positioned the arch so it could be lifted into place using pairs of cable hoists mounted on each end of the uncompleted bridge. William Reynolds, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the lifting started early Friday afternoon and was expected to take four to six hours to complete.

The arch is the last major section of the 2,100-foot-long bridge to be installed.

Spring flooding along the Lake Champlain shoreline caused construction delays, but Reynolds said the $70-million bridge will be open by the end of this year, most likely in the fall.

About 250 people gathered along the lakeshore in sunny, 70-degree weather to watch the eight-story-tall arch make its way slowly across the lake to the southern narrows separating New York and Vermont.

The original bridge linking Crown Point and Addison, Vt., was demolished in December 2009 after inspectors deemed the 80-year-old span unsafe. The new bridge will connect the same two communities.