(Photo courtesy of ADOT)

Salt River Bridges.

(Photo courtesy of ADOT)

Extra Long Girder.

The Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway project is adding bridge girders to haul traffic over the western end of the Salt River bridge.

The girders are oversized beams used to support the future bridge decks, such as the ones under construction for the freeway.

“Each girder is as long as a 17 foot story building and they weigh as much as 14 fully grown elephants so they’re extremely extremely large,” said Dustin Krugel, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The bridge girders haven’t been used before by ADOT and are the largest of their kind in the state.

The 22 mile freeway is expected to be finished in late 2019.