Venice Getting New Grand Canal Bridge

VENICE, Italy -- Hundreds of people watched as a new bridge began taking shape over the Canal Grand, the first built in decades over the famed Venice waterway.

Two steel buttresses were put in place on the canal's banks during the weekend. The bridge, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is the fourth over the Grand Canal.

Transporting the buttresses along the canal and under the 16th-century Rialto Bridge was no small feat: Each piece is about 50 feet long and weighs 100 tons.

The bridge will connect the train station to the Piazzale Roma, site of the main bus terminal. Construction is expected to be completed by about year's end; the $13.6 million span will have stone pavings and glass railings.

The project has been beset by controversies over its impact on the city's landscape and access for the disabled, and officials were jubilant over the weekend work.