A controversial project to build Venice's first new bridge in 70 years moved closer to completion on Wednesday when the arc's central span was transported up the Grand Canal to its final destination.
The 55.2-metre long and 3.7-metre wide construction was carefully manoeuvred by boat up the canal to the city's railway station.
Over the next few days, the central section will be jacked up and lowered into place between two steel side buttresses that have been erected on the canal's two banks.
The bridge will thereby link the station with Piazzale Roma, a car and bus terminal on the opposite side.
Designed by acclaimed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the bridge will be the fourth over the lagoon city's Grand Canal.
A sleek arc of steel accessed by a flight of glass steps, the bridge will span 94 metres from one bank to the other and should be inaugurated by the end of the year.
But the project has been dogged by controversy and delays, with problems ranging from spiralling costs and alarm over the bridge's weight to protests over the lack of access for the disabled.
Hundreds of protesters turned out on Wednesday to contest the bridge, led by two centre-right opposition parties, the National Alliance (AN) and the Northern League.
Organisers said the demonstration drew 1,500 people but police said many of them were simple spectators who wanted to watch while the central span was moved up the canal.
Local AN official Piero Bertoluzzi protested against the cost of the project, saying the original price tag of four million euros had soared to more than 10 million.
He said the money would have been better spent on the renovation of council buildings to help poorer families and encourage them to remain in the tourist-besieged city.
CALATRAVA ANGRY OVER WEIGHT CRITICISM.
Calatrava recently issued an angry statement rejecting fears that the banks of the Grand Canal might not be able to bear the bridge's weight.
In the May press release, the architect blasted the criticism of the bridge's design and engineering as "extremely disappointing and professionally embarrassing".
Calatrava, designer of the 2004 Athens Olympic stadium, said the weight of the bridge would be borne by foundations set into solid terrain, far below the banks, in a "resilient layer of stone and earth compacted and hardened by hydraulic cylinders".
The architect, whose other trademark buildings include an auditorium and sealife centre in his native Valencia and the Milwaukee Museum of Fine Arts, also stressed the project delays and rising costs had nothing to do with him.
Calatrava, 56, has received numerous awards and been the subject of dozens of shows around the world.
Among his upcoming projects, Calatrava will design the new urban transit hub at the World Trade Center site in New York and has won provisional bidding for what will be the world's highest building, a projected 2,000ft (600m) spire in Chicago.
