Beawiharta / Reuters

Students walk across a new bridge as they cross a river to get to school at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Lebak regency, Indonesia's Banten village on November 29, 2012.

A perilous daily journey undertaken by a group of Indonesian schoolchildren just got a whole lot easier.

In January, PhotoBlog reported on the dangerous river crossing the children faced after a bridge collapsed. Ten months on, Reuters reports that a new bridge has opened.

Epi Sopian, the head of Sanghiang Tanjung village, said the bridge had been built with the assistance of non-governmental organizations and the country's largest steel producer, PT Krakatau Steel.

Related content:

• Daring bike ride to school in Indonesia
• Risky river crossing: Filipino kids tube to get to school

Beawiharta / Reuters

Then and now: A combination photo shows children crossing the old collapsed bridge (top) on January 29, 2012, and students using the new bridge (below) on November 29, 2012.

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Mohammad Ali / EPA

A boy on his way to school rides a bicycle across planks on an aqueduct that separates Plempungan Village and Suro Village in Karanganyar, central Java, Indonesia, on Nov. 26. As rickety as it looks, residents prefer to use the old aqueduct as a shortcut. The alternative route requires walking 3.5 miles.

Also on PhotoBlog:

• Indonesian children make perilous journey to school over collapsed bridge
• Another day at the office: Workers paint George Washington Bridge 330 feet above water

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Pakistani groom, Phaloos Sohtra, 22, unveils his bride Shabana Gill, 20, during their wedding in a church in a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 5.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Pakistani bride Shabana Gill, 20, is flanked by relatives and friends while walking to a church for her wedding procession, in a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 5.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A Pakistani girl, bottom left, throws flowers on groom Phaloos Sohtra, 22, and his bride Shabana Gill, 20, as they exchange rings during their wedding in a church in a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 5.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Pakistani neighbors of bride Shabana Gill, 20, not pictured, wait her arrival outside a church during her wedding in a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 5.

Related links:

• See photos from Pakistan on PhotoBlog
• Slideshow -- Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

John Munson / The Star-Ledger

Painting supervisor Kevin McSweeney walks out onto one of the cables on the George Washington Bridge to inspect the painting operations in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

John Munson / The Star-Ledger

Obed Gonzalez paints one of the large cables on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

It was as he was selecting his harness that New Jersey Star-Ledger photographer John Munson realized that he, too, would be joining the George Washington Bridge painters high above rush-hour traffic on the cables suspending the bridge over the Hudson River. As he and reporter Steve Strunsky headed to the span's midpoint, Munson focused on shooting the Port Authority workers and tuning out the vibrations from morning commuters heading into New York City below them.

For the painters, it is just another day at the office. They work on maintaining the bridge year-round, completing a full paint job in approximately 18 months. The Star-Ledger's Steve Strunsky reports:

Kevin McSweeney stood 330 feet above the Hudson River on one of four 36-inch diameter cables strung between the twin towers of the George Washington Bridge.

Manhattan-bound cars and trucks whooshed 100 feet below him as his crew of five bridge painters worked on a narrow platform. Clipped to safety wires, they used rollers to coat the cables with an aluminum-based protective layer.

It was 9 a.m. and already hot under a blazing July sun. But the small gang of adrenaline junkies applied the silvery coating with amazing speed and coordination, seemingly oblivious to the dizzying height.

Read the complete story.

Related links:

• Star-Ledger gallery: Painting the George Washington Bridge
• PhotoBlog: Exploring the offbeat of the Golden Gate Bridge
• Slideshow: The Golden Gate Bridge's 75-year history

John Munson / The Star-Ledger

Keith Schmitt paints the top of the south cable on the George Washington Bridge. Fort Lee, NJ, on July 10.

Tina Carroll / AP

A cargo ship named The Delta Mariner pauses in the water after colliding with a southwestern Kentucky bridge that partially collapsed when it was struck Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, near Aurora, Ky. The ship was traveling upriver toward the Kentucky Lock and Dam when it hit the aging steel bridge, which was built in the 1930s and handles about 2,800 vehicles a day.

Tina Carroll / AP

The Delta Mariner pauses in the water.

WPSD

Aerial photo of the The Delta Mariner, an ocean freight vessel as it sits under the collapsed 200-foot segment of the Eggner's Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake, Jan. 27, 2012. The Delta Mariner struck the main span of the Eggner Ferry Bridge on Thursday evening at U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80.

The full story reported by AP includes a description by a motorist who was on the bridge at the time:

"All of a sudden I see the road's gone and I hit the brakes," he said. "It got close."

Parker said he stopped his pickup within five feet of the missing section. Two cars behind him stopped on his bumper and he saw another car on the other side of the missing section stopped.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Beawiharta / Reuters

Sofiah, right, and her friends walk to school at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Lebak regency, Banten, Indonesia on Jan. 19, 2012.

Beawiharta / Reuters

Students hold on to the side steel bars of a collapsed bridge as they cross a river to get to school in Sanghiang Tanjung on Jan. 19, 2012

For Sofiah and her classmates, the journey to school just got a whole lot harder. The Indonesian schoolgirl lives on one side of the Ciberang River but her school in the village of Sanghiang Tanjung is on the other - and the river has been flooding.

On Monday, the rising waters broke a pillar supporting a suspension bridge that crosses it, the head of the village told Reuters.

Faced with an extra 30 minutes' walk to cross via an alternate bridge, Sofiah and her friends have chosen to undertake the precarious crossing of the collapsed bridge instead.

As word has spread, the media gathered to film a feat worthy of Indiana Jones. But the children don't appear to be perturbed, safely making it across and continuing to school.

At least they have something to say when their parents ask, "What happened at school today?"

• Read photographer Beawiharta's blog about shooting this story.

Beawiharta / Reuters

Sofiah, left, and her friend cross the bridge on Jan. 19, 2012.

Beawiharta / Reuters

Sofiah stands on a chair as she writes on a whiteboard after reaching school on Jan. 19, 2012.

Yan Runbo / Imaginechina via AP

Aerial view of the Jiaozhou Bay bridge on June 29. Linking China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao, it is the world's longest cross-sea bridge at over 26 miles.

Han Jiajun / Imaginechina via AP

Part of the Jiaozhou Bay bridge.

Wu Hong / EPA, file

Construction work on the Jiaozhou Bay bridge on June 1. The bridge opened on June 30 after more than four years of building work.

Huang Jiexian / Imaginechina via AP, file

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge during construction on January 6. The bridge is expected to carry over 30,000 cars a day and will cut the commute between the city of Qingdao and the sprawling suburb of Huangdao by between 20 and 30 minutes.

The AP reports:

China has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to an offshore island, Huangdao.

State-run CCTV says the 110-foot (35-meter)-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). Continue reading.

See more China-related images on PhotoBlog.

Big locks, little locks, padlocks and Ottoman style handmade locks.

For years, lovers from around the world have attached locks to the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, and tossed their keys into the Seine River as a symbol of their unity.

On a recent backpacking adventure to Europe, Michaela Jackson and Alan Poizner spent time enjoying the ambiance on the bridge around sunset and after nightfall. Even more recently while back home in Nashville, Poizner brought the tradition stateside.

Jackson, a Vanderbilt Law School student, has fond memories of the evenings they spent together near the bridge. “Sitting on that bridge was our favorite activity in Paris and is one of our favorite memories of the entire trip. In particular, the symbolism of the lock tradition made a huge impression on us - not to mention how striking the scene is visually.”

Mal Langsdon / Reuters

A handful of the thousands of padlocks clipped by lovers onto the railings of the Pont des Arts bridge over the River Seine in Paris on Monday, Mar. 7. The Pont Neuf bridge and the Ile de la Cite island in the river Seine can be seen in the background.

Poizner, a freelance photojournalist who has been with Jackson since 2006, knew he'd found the perfect way to propose to his then-girlfriend at the conclusion of her final exams in December of last year.

“After dinner, we parked in the neighborhood and trekked a mile to the top of the bridge,” Jackson recounts. “As we approached the bridge's first landing, Alan pulled me toward the railing, held me tight in the 15-degree weather, and proposed. After I said (read: screamed) yes, he pulled out the beautiful antique lock. We locked it onto the bridge, together, and threw the key over the side of the bridge into the river. Our special encounter with the "lock bridge" made Alan's proposal truly 'us.'"

Although their lock is all alone on the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River downtown Nashville, it may not be alone for long.

Courtesy Alan Poizner & Michaela Jackson

Alan Poizner and Michaela Jackson, both of Nashville, secured this lock to the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge and tossed the key into the Cumberland River after the couple got engaged in Nashville, Tenn., in Dec. 2010.

The couple is planning their wedding for May of 2012.