The base and walls of each cell are steel plates and the reinforced concrete deck forms the top section.

[1] Hay is located on the Western Plains where the clay and silt deposit can be up to 457 metres (1,500 ft) in depth.

Due to the complete absence of rock in this deposit, 25 by 25 centimetres (10 in × 10 in) in rolled "H" section steel piles have been used for the foundations.

The steel girders were manufactured at Sydney in pairs 5 metres (15 ft) wide, transported by road to Hay and bolted together after having been placed in position on falsework.

[1] The bridge was opened by Harry Jago, the NSW Assistant Minister for Highways, on June 08, 1973 (1973-06-08), the same day as he also opened a replacement bridge across the Murrumbidgee River at Balranald, located 129 kilometres (80 mi) west.

The upper portion of the central pier was wrought iron, 3.7 metres (12 ft) in diameter, and 8.8 metres (29 ft) in height, with an ornamental moulding on top; within this was the iron rack on which a pinion gear allowed the swing span to the opened by one person.

The upper part of the central pier was fitted with adjusting screws to regulate weights, and carried the gearing and platform used to turn the bridge.

[4] The piers for the side spans each consisted of a pair of cylinders, each 1.8 metres (6 ft) in diameter of cast and wrought iron.

[4] The contractors for the ironwork were P. N. Russell and Co., and the sinking and fixing of the piers was by the Government of New South Wales under Mr K. A.

[4] P. N. Russell and Co. won the tender for the iron bridgework in January 1870[5] and the cylinders for the piers were cast at their works in Sydney during 1870.

The last occasions when the bridge was opened were, in August 1936, for Ulonga and, in early 1937 for Adeline, carrying a load of timber.