The bridge's western end is in Foster City, a suburb on the eastern edge of San Mateo.

The bridge is part of State Route 92 (SR 92), whose western terminus is at the city of Half Moon Bay on the Pacific coast.

[3] Most of the original bridge was a causeway trestle 27 feet wide, with five 300-foot (91 m) truss spans in the center[10] incorporating a vertical lift over the main shipping channel.

[12] Although the initial press was favorable, daily traffic fell from the opening months[13] and never exceeded 2,000 cars per day until 1947.

[10] With increased road and marine traffic, a bill was introduced in 1961 by State Senator Richard J. Dolwig to fund a new fixed high-level bridge to replace the 1929 lift-bridge.

[1] William Stephen Allen was retained as an architectural consultant,[20] although the bridge was designed by the Bay Toll Crossings Division (under Chief Engineer Norman C. Raab) of the California Department of Public Works.

[23] It was the first large-scale use of an orthotropic deck, which reduces weight, and thus seismic loading, although the bridge is expected to receive moderate to major damage following an earthquake.

[25] The heavy lift capacity of Marine Boss enabled Murphy Pacific to raise much longer prefabricated girders than existing barge cranes would have allowed.

Box girder and deck sections were fabricated in Murphy Pacific's Richmond yard and were carried by Marine Boss to the bridge construction site.

Approximately 425,000 cubic yards (325,000 m3) of fill were used at the Hayward end to reclaim land for placing the toll plaza and administrative buildings.

[32] The steel deck of the bridge, approximately 418,000 square feet (38,800 m2), was paved with an epoxy asphalt concrete wearing surface in two layers.

The causeway section was a perennial traffic bottleneck until it was expanded to six lanes in 2002,[4] along with much needed improvements in its connections with Interstate 880 in Hayward.

[37] Service was suspended in 2020 due to ridership losses following the COVID-19 pandemic in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[47] A beam, which had been added as part of the seismic retrofit project, was found in a cracked condition during a routine inspection in October 2010.

[49] After nearly forty years of service from the original orthotropic deck wearing surface, Myers and Sons Construction, a partnership between C. C. Myers and Sterling Construction Company, was the selected bidder to remove and replace the wearing surface on the highrise portion in 2015.

[55] After the new bridge was built, the old bridge was demolished but the western approach (the trestle span up to the original truss spans) was purchased by the County of San Mateo in 1968 for the nominal sum of $10 (equivalent to $67 in 2023[2])[9] and retained as the 4,055-foot (1,236 m) Werder Fishing Pier,[3] which was known as one of the best places to catch sharks in San Francisco Bay.

[9] Werder Pier was closed to the public in 1996, when Caltrans used it as an equipment staging area for the seismic retrofit of the 1967 span.

[9] A report was prepared for the county in 2004; the cost of rehabilitating the pier and providing some improvements was estimated at up to $7,200,000 (equivalent to $11.1 million in 2023[2]),[9] depending on a more detailed evaluation of the pier's condition, since the investigation for the report revealed numerous cracks, spalls and exposed reinforcing steel.

[57] Initial concepts for the newly acquired space included a possible ice rink[58] and ferry terminal, but the land was deemed too environmentally sensitive to support high-intensity use.

[66] A $1 seismic retrofit surcharge was added in 1998 by the state legislature, increasing the toll to $2 (equivalent to $3.74 in 2023), originally for eight years, but since then extended to December 2037 (AB1171, October 2001).

[67] On March 2, 2004, voters approved Regional Measure 2 to fund various transportation improvement projects, raising the toll by another dollar to $3 (equivalent to $4.84 in 2023).

Caltrans administers the "second dollar" seismic surcharge, and receives some of the MTC-administered funds to perform other maintenance work on the bridges.

The Bay Area Toll Authority is made up of appointed officials put in place by various city and county governments, and is not subject to direct voter oversight.

The carpool lane rules will also be standardized across the toll bridges in 2026, with a minimum of three people required to qualify for the discount.