[2] It is a steel Warren Pony truss bridge over Chevelon Creek, built on the first permanent road connecting Holbrook, the seat of Navajo County, and Winslow.

Cutting through Coconino Plateau that has an elevation 6,000 feet (1,800 m) east of Winslow,[4] the canyon was considered at the time "a practically impassible topographic barrier".

[3] The bridge replaced an earlier county-built "pin-connected" Pratt truss after Navajo County requested an inspection in 1911 by the state (then territory) engineer.

Holbrook and Winslow, both stops on the Santa Fe Railroad traversing northern Arizona, were important commercial towns centered on agriculture and livestock.

Good transportation was necessary to support commerce and government, as Holbrook was the county seat, as well as Arizona's nascent tourism industry.

[8][9] The main factors leading to the high score were that it was part of a primary transcontinental route and was one of the first significant road structures undertaken by the newly formed state of Arizona.

Further delays occurred for various reasons for several more years until the project began in 2013 under an agreement that called for the county to pay 5.7% of the cost and the state the remaining 94.3%.

The abatement required building a temporary aluminum platform under the bridge and wrapping the entire structure in plastic to contain the particles of paint that were removed with an abrasive blasting process using crushed walnut shells.