The old stone bridges were vital for communications and trade in Epirus. The bridge of Arta is 142 meters long and connects the city with the fertile plain to the west. The bridge consists of four large spans, as well as three smaller ones. A study of the foundations revealed that there was a bridge here since the Classical or Hellenistic period. The initial structure was altered, added-on, and expanded over the centuries. The bridge, in its present form, dates to 1612. When Arta became part of Greece, in 1881, the border between Greece and the Ottoman Empire crossed the bridge at its highest point.