During the archaeological season of 2007 in the ancient city of Butrint, a small scale excavation and recording of the Roman bridge or aqueduct, once linking Butrint and the Vrina Plain were undertaken. From it survives only a large masonry block on the northeast side of the medieval Water Gate. Remnants of masonry piers have been glimpsed in the thick silt on the channel bed, but elsewhere nothing remains of this once substantial structure.
The excavation revealed the initial span of the bridge with its vault largely intact, and a collapsed arch mostly buried in mud. Some elements of the well-crafted outer face of the standing arch survived in situ. A section of smooth stone paving of the original road surface was uncovered on the top of the bridge, together with sections of rougher, later repairs. The road carried by the bridge measured at least 6.50 m across, sufficient to permit wheeled vehicles over the Vivari Channel. The bridge or aqueduct appears on coins struck at Butrint during the reigns of Augustus and Nero, testimony to the significant investment their construction required.
The aqueduct fell out of use by the 4th century, but it is now evident that the bridge itself remained in use for considerably longer. The late antique (c. AD 475) fortification circuit retained the bridge opening and the road was only closed when a wall was built over it, probably in the 10th century, possibly as part of a new enclosure built around the Great Basilica.