The first steel has arrived for a new bridge linking two southwestern Pennsylvania counties following last year's demolition of a century-old span.

The (Washington) Observer-Reporter says a 60-ton section was hoisted Tuesday from a barge in the Monongahela River.

It took workers only 15 minutes for a giant crane to get it to the top of a pier for workers to guide into place for the new Charleroi-Monessen Bridge.

The original bridge linking Washington and Westmoreland counties opened in 1907 and was rebuilt in 1986. But the 1,900-foot span was demolished in July 2011 after a 2009 inspection found decaying supports.

Officials hoped to finish the bridge by March and have some traffic moving across it by November, but the project is a month or more behind schedule.