These are the huge steel structures which will be pieced-together to build the congestion-busting third Don crossing.
The enormous 60-tonne L-shaped beams made their way through Aberdeen at little more than walking pace last night.
But when they become part of the new £18million bridge, they will help speed the traffic flow in the city and ease the gridlock which causes misery for tens of thousands of motorists.
After an epic 27-hour journey from Darlington in County Durham they were given a police escort for the last leg of their road trip to the north bank of the Don.
Two more pieces, which will form the centre portions of bridge, will arrive tomorrow, followed by the final two sections for the south side of the crossing some time in the next two weeks.
Work on the bridge started in September, and is expected to be finished by the first quarter of next year.
It will feature two footpaths, a cycleway, and two lanes for traffic.
Iain MacPherson, contractor Balfour Beatty site manager for the project, said: “This forms the critical part of the project.
“It’s been almost a full year working on this to get to this stage.
“Once we lift in the south side it will release all the road works in the north end of Tillydrone.
“It’s probably the people from the north of the River Don that will benefit most from this, anybody coming in from the north commuting into the city will see a difference.
“Most of the construction teams are local, as far as guys working on the ground working directly for us I would say it’s around 75% of them are local, which is good.
“By the middle of July it should look pretty much like the final product, minus the concrete on top.”
Once all six pieces have arrived in Aberdeen, an 800-tonne crane will lift and swing them out over the River Don, before the Balfour Beatty construction team secures them in place, forming the skeleton of the bridge.
Conservative councillor Ross Thomson has been a major backer of the project.
Speaking last night at the construction site, he said: “It’s a historic moment actually, the people of Aberdeen have waited over 30 years for this bridge to become a reality.
“It was 30 years ago that it was first mooted, and since then there’s been so much dithering and delay over it, sadly part of the problem was politicians not having the guts to get on with it.
“But it’s being delivered now, and it’s a great moment because with the steel coming in tonight people will be able to see that real progress is being made.
“It’s such an amazing structure, a power of work has gone into it and it’s incredible to see everything coming into place.”
Mr Thomson stressed that once the project is complete, he believes the traffic issues plaguing the north of the city will just be a bad memory.
He said: “For people who live and work in the city it’s going to make life easier, the misery of having to sit in the lengthy, lengthy queues I hope will become a thing of the past.
“It will also help with business, particularly in the economic climate that we have right now. Projects like this help to retain business in the north-east, as well as encourage others to invest.
“We also need to remember that this is something the council is doing on its own, it is purely the council tax payers of Aberdeen that are funding this, it’s not got any central government support, and I think it shows that the council understands that wider infrastructure is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed.”
