The 140-meter-long and 950-ton structure has been assembled on the riverside over the last month. Special equipment from the Netherlands was then brought to Estonia to move it into position.

On Monday morning, the arch was moved almost 120 meters towards the river, then approximately 100 meters above it, and was expected to be 20 meters from its final location by the end of the day.

"We've checked that everything is safe and that the bridge can keep its geometry during transport. To do this, we have also installed reinforcing elements on the bridge. If all goes well, we will finish the work on Wednesday evening, but of course we depend on the weather. If the wind speed is expected to exceed 14 metres per second, we will be forced to halt our operation," said Robert Sinikas, a member of the board of INF Infra, the company building the bridge.

For safety reasons, the area has been closed to water traffic for the next five days.

The new bridge will be Estonia's longest, with a total span of 140 meters. Once completed, the bridge will link the South bank of the Pärnu River to the rest of the city, connecting Laia tänav with Raba tänav. 

The construction of the new bridge in Pärnu started last summer and has cost more than €26 million to construct.

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