Dedicated on January 10, 1948,[3] the bridge allowed State Route 47 (the Terminal Island Freeway) to cross over the Cerritos Channel.

Since the trestle bridge effectively blocked marine traffic from passing through the east end of Cerritos Slough,[16] the War Department ordered the Salt Lake Railroad to demolish it in 1906.

However, the widened channel would require the newly-renamed Salt Lake Railroad to move its tracks on Terminal Island and remove its 1908 bridge.

As part of the compromise, in exchange for Salt Lake moving its tracks and ceding land to accommodate the widened channel, the city took on obligations to reconstruct wharves and build a replacement bridge.

[citation needed] The bridge was named in honor of Commodore Schuyler Franklin Heim, who was in command of the Naval Air Station on Terminal Island in 1942.

The replacement bridge has a total of six lanes for vehicular traffic, three in each direction, and span 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km).

[37] The bridge used >400-short-ton (360-metric-ton) counterweights to lift the deck span portion to allow tall-masted vessels underneath.

Due to the large amount of heavy truck traffic over the bridge, the deck was subject to excessive wear.

Each month, technicians perform a remote static load test of the bridge, providing direction to onsite Caltrans staff while monitoring real-time data from the firm's Chicago office.