The structure was designed by the Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava and is used by Jerusalem Light Rail's Red Line, which began service on August 19, 2011.

He was invited to Jerusalem by city engineer Uri Shetrit and former mayor Ehud Olmert,[3] who, according to Calatrava, challenged him to "do the most beautiful contemporary bridge".

[6] Similar to Calatrava's Puente del Alamillo in Seville, Spain, the bridge makes use of an angled cantilever tower to absorb some of the load and reduce the number of cable stays needed.

The bridge consists of a single pylon counterbalancing a 160-metre (170 yd) span with lengths of cables, making a dramatic architectural statement.

[7] A striking feature of the bridge is a single 118-metre (129 yd) high mast supporting the roadway via 66 steel cables[8] arranged in a parabolic shape which develops three-dimensionally in space,[6] making it the tallest structure in Jerusalem at the time of its completion.