A key bridge just southwest of Fallujah has been reopened, some two years after it was destroyed by an insurgent car bomb.

The Mujarrah Canal Bridge was rebuilt in a $1.26 million project funded and overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region District.

The bridge, originally built by the Chinese in 1983, was a key link in the region, frequently used by industrial trucking companies and regular travelers west of Baghdad.

The bridge traverses a canal that connects Lake Habbaniyah and Lake Razazah and is described by military officials as “strategic and essential.”

Several bridges in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq were targeted by insurgents during a wave of bombings in 2007, an effort to both choke off commerce and keep people isolated in certain regions. Most of the bridges have since been rebuilt with U.S. funds.

The Corps of Engineers has completed hundreds of road and bridge projects in Iraq in an effort to help facilitate trade and allow civilians to move around the country as security improves.