The bridge was closed for 11 months between 2018 and 2019 in order to complete a $13 million rehabilitation project.

[citation needed] In September 1981, county leaders closed the 26-year-old bridge when it was determined that the structure had been critically weakened by a fire which resulted from the collision of a Gulf Oil gasoline tanker truck with a bus after the tanker failed to negotiate a sharp curve on the Neville Island side of the bridge.

Following the closure, 14,000 motorists were forced to detour five miles away to the Coraopolis-Neville Bridge.

That bridge had already had its own issues at the time, with traffic limited to one lane in each direction due to construction.

[6][7] In late August 2019, the Allegheny County Department of Public Works announced that the bridge would be open again by the last Friday of the month.