 During the month of January, Marines with 9th Engineer Support Battalion constructed a land bridge across a dry river bed also called a Wadi, which intersects with Route Red. Route Red has been under construction for the past year and is the main road Marines use when traveling north and south through the district of Musa Kayla. This was the last major project on the road build. The Wadi, they estimate it sees about 4 foot of water as soon as the wet season hits. Combination of the rain and the melt off from the mountains, this gets hit pretty hard with water. So we're building a land bridge so water will flow and not wash the road out. The land bridge spans 115 meters and will ensure the use of Route Red during the rainy season. Typically, the rain during this time floods the Wadi and forces Marines to use an alternate route of at least 18 miles in either direction. We have to level the ground, find center, then we lay our culverts in, the pieces where the water will flow through, and then we have to backfill over that. It's a pretty long tedious process for each step, but when it all comes together you end up with a bridge. This bridge will not only benefit Marines and coalition forces traveling through the area, but also Afghans throughout the surrounding districts who use the road on a daily basis. It leaves something permanent for the locals here, so years from now they can still use this Wadi crossing even in the rainy season after we've left and know that we've built this and provided them something lasting so that they can use to pass commerce through this area. The Marines worked around the clock through rain and freezing temperatures for more than a week in order to ensure the bridge was completed before the heavy rains began. They're an outstanding job, they work hard, they get up early in the morning, they work late and I have to kick them off the site sometimes, I just want to keep going. Reporting from Helmand Province, Afghanistan, I'm Corporal Brian Nygaard.