The 152-metre (499 ft) suspension bridge in the bush-lined gorge was built in the mid-1920s to allow workers from the village of Arapuni to access the power station construction site.

As it was a relatively simple ancillary structure associated with what at the time was New Zealand's largest civil engineering project, the suspension bridge itself received little mention in progress reports and media accounts.

The structure is likely to have been shipped prefabricated from England, and was erected by the British contractors for the Arapuni dam and power station project, Armstrong Whitworth.

On the true right, the bridge footing is cut into the side of the river bank and the foundation for the suspension cables is built on top of the cliff.

Geological features can be seen, and the cliffs on the true right of the landing are of volcanic origin and formed by ignimbrite blocks, which are vertically fissured by cooling stresses.