[1] It is a Scheduled monument[2] and Grade I listed building[3] and is reputedly the oldest arch in the United Kingdom still used by traffic.

The arch was remodelled and enlarged when the city, then the Roman town Lindum Colonia, became capital of the province Flavia Caesariensis in the 4th century.

As the north gate of the city, it carried the major Roman road Ermine Street northward almost in a straight line to the Humber.

From Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks by John Ward (1911): In May 1964 a goods lorry belonging to the Humber Warehousing Company struck the arch while attempting to pass under it.

[6] 13 years later, in May 2017, a RASE logistics lorry got stuck underneath the arch; after letting down the tyres, it was able to reverse out with no apparent damage to the structure.