American and Iraqi military engineers have completed work on a float bridge that spans the Tigris River and helps reopen a key route between Beiji and Kirkuk.

The span — a “Mabey-Johnson float bridge” — is hoped to help people and commerce flow between the two cities, north of Baghdad.

“This is vital to the economic health of Iraq because it facilitates oil, agriculture, commercial and civilian traffic throughout Multi-National Division — North,” 1st Lt. Jeremiah Manning, of the 20th Engineer Brigade, said in a news release.

Officials said the Iraqi engineers were being trained to take the bridge-building knowledge to other parts of the country and other Iraqi engineer units. The bridge between Beiji and Kirkuk was built by the U.S. Army’s 74th Engineer Company, along with eight Iraqi engineers, officials said.

Migrated