[3][4] It is composed of an over-water span and the 155th Street Viaduct, both of which were designed by consulting engineer Alfred Pancoast Boller.

[7][8] As of 2019[update], the Macombs Dam Bridge carries New York City Transit's Bx6 and Bx6 SBS bus routes.

[9][10] In 2016, the New York City Department of Transportation reported an average daily traffic volume in both directions of 38,183,[2] with a peak of 55,609 in 1957.

[14] At the time of its construction, Macombs Dam Bridge's over-river span was said to be among the largest drawbridges built to date,[16] or the heaviest movable mass in the world.

[19] At the western end of the over-water span is a long steel viaduct, carrying two sidewalks and two lanes of traffic in each direction.

[21] Additionally, four long metal staircases originally connected the viaduct and the lower level of 155th Street; these stairs had canopies covering their upper flights.

[26] A Scientific American magazine article in 1890 stated that "To draw a load up the hill a team has to be taken a mile or more to the south".

[28] As originally laid out, Macombs Place provided access to Eighth Avenue (Frederick Douglass Boulevard), which was located at the bottom of Coogan's Bluff and was bypassed by the viaduct.

[7][13] Past the camelback span, the bridge intersects with the on- and off-ramps to and from the southbound Major Deegan Expressway.

To the northeast, a steel approach road leads to Jerome Avenue, which extends north into the Bronx and Westchester County, and there are cloverleaf ramps to and from the northbound Major Deegan Expressway.

[33] In one incident in September 1839, local residents breached the dam over several days, and their actions were later reinforced by New York Supreme Court despite the operator's objections.

By the late 1880s, landowners in Upper Manhattan were advocating for development of Washington Heights, the then-sparsely-populated area atop Coogan's Bluff, the high cliff to the west of Macombs Dam.

[40] Another reason for developing this region of Manhattan was the opening of the Polo Grounds stadium at the bottom of Coogan's Bluff in 1890.

[39] By 1886, local landowners had come to an agreement that a viaduct was needed to connect the top of Coogan's Bluff and the Central Bridge.

[39] The next year, the New York state legislature passed a law that enabled the construction of a viaduct connecting the high point of Coogan's Bluff to the Central Bridge.

[39][41] Around the same time, the Central Bridge was slated to be rebuilt as a result of the River and Harbor Act, passed by the United States Congress in 1890.

[39][42][43]Structural engineer Alfred Pancoast Boller was hired to design the viaduct; his plans were officially approved in May 1890 at an estimated cost of $514,000, to be split evenly between the city and landowners.

[39][47] The contract for the over-water span and Bronx approach was given to the Passaic Rolling Mill Company in March 1892, and work on that segment began two months later.

[45] As the old bridge was about to be closed, residents of the town of Tremont, Bronx, expressed concerns that one of their few links to Manhattan would be temporarily severed.

[52] The design of the short span over the Hudson Line railroad tracks was likely also changed when the contract modification was made.

[30] A rocky outcropping obstructed the line of view between Seventh Avenue and the bridge, so the builders decided to destroy the rock.

[29][39] An additional contract for a second Bronx approach from Sedgwick and Ogden Avenues was designed by Boller in January 1893,[45] and was approved by the New York State Legislature.

[28] The New York City Department of Plant and Structures assumed control of the over-water span in 1916, and five years later it also had jurisdiction of the 155th Street Viaduct.

[28] In 1920, while Yankee Stadium was under construction, ramps were built on the Bronx side of the Macombs Dam Bridge,[8][59] leading to 161st Street.

[61] Around the same time, from 1949 through 1951, the approach to Ogden and Sedgwick Avenues in the Bronx was demolished to make way for the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway.

The work, initially expected to cost $34 million, would pay for the restoration of steel brackets and deteriorated concrete supports.

[4] Simultaneously, the NYCDOT also assessed the Macombs Dam Bridge and 155th Street Viaduct for a seismic-retrofitting project, which at the time was slated to be completed between 2010 and 2013 for $36 million.

[70][71] Even while under construction, the Macombs Dam Bridge and the 155th Street Viaduct were favorably appraised by contemporary media.

[27] Two years later, the Engineering News-Record said that the two structures comprised "two of the parts of a grand system of improvements which will [...] transform that section of the city of New York.

"[73] Bridge engineer Martin Gay praised the masonry's "fine lines" and the "graceful sweep" of the over-water span's upper chord in 1904.