It was named after Polish military commander and American Revolutionary War fighter Casimir Pulaski in homage to the large Polish-American population in Greenpoint.

Its span crosses Newtown Creek, Long Island Rail Road tracks, and the entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel from south to north.

[2] From 1979 until 1990, a message reading "Wheels Over Indian Trails" was painted on the Pulaski Bridge over the approach to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.

The artwork was created by John Fekner as a tribute to the thirteen Native American tribes who inhabited Long Island and referred to the changing traffic patterns on Vernon Boulevard, a former Indian trail.

In April 2013, in a letter to Assembly Member Joe Lentol, the NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner stated that the proposal for a two-way dedicated bike lane, which would convert the existing walkway to a pedestrian-only path, had met the requirements of a traffic analysis and that an engineering study and recommendations would be made by the end of the year.