NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) – It’s not every day you see a 400-foot-long, 5.5-million pound steel bridge floating up Narragansett Bay.

The new Providence River Bridge, part of the relocated section of Interstate 195, departed North Kingstown early Sunday morning and traveled 12 miles on two 300-foot barges to Providence.

Pushed by four tug boats, the bridge arrived at its destination three-and-a-half hours later, a much speedier journey than anticipated by engineers and transportation officials.

“The weather conditions were ideal,” said Frank Corrao, deputy chief engineer at the state Department of Transportation. “The boats were able to keep good pace as their voyage came up the Bay.”

Corrao said the bridge is expected to be put in place by Monday afternoon, if weather conditions are good.

Several state officials came to watch the bridge being loaded onto the barges Saturday morning.

Gov. Don Carcieri showed up with his wife, Sue, and three of his grandchildren.

“I said, ‘Kids, you’ll never see this again,”‘ Carcieri said. He described the loading operation as fascinating.

“I have never, never seen anything like this,” David Freeman, who headed the engineering company that designed the bridge, told the Providence Journal.

Mammoet, a Dutch firm that specializes in moving extraordinarily large objects, loaded the bridge onto the barges crosswise, with its ends sticking out on the sides so they will fit over the piers near the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier in Providence.

The bridge has also been raised 30 feet off the ground so it can be lowered onto the 25-foot-high piers at low tide and by pumping water into the barges, partially sinking them.

Corrao said building the bridge at Quonset Point/Davisville provided a safer environment than building it over the water. The method also allowed the piers to be built at the same time.

The arch bridge is part of a project that will shift Interstate 195 south of the Hurricane Barrier and build a new connection with Route 95.

Officials say the project will benefit Rhode Island economy and improve road safety. They say the light green arched bridge structure will enhance Providence’s skyline.