The bridge informally marks the upstream limit of Lake Powell and the end of Cataract Canyon of the Colorado River, but when the lake is at normal water elevation, the water can back up over 30 miles (48 km) upstream into Cataract Canyon.

In 1880 a prospector named Cass Hite established a ford near the mouth of the Dirty Devil River, 2 miles (3.2 km) downstream from the present-day bridge location.

In 1946, a settler named Arthur Chaffin constructed an automobile ferry using an old car engine and a thick steel cable to hold it in place.

The ferry operated for 20 years, before the rising waters of Lake Powell inundated the settlement of Hite.

[2] The bridge was completed as part of the realignment of State Route 95, which was approved in 1962 due to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell's subsequent flooding of the original roadway alignment and the original river crossing in Hite.