Prior to its construction, the only crossing of the Orinoco was the Angostura Bridge around 100 km upstream at Ciudad Bolívar that was opened in 1967.

At the site chosen for the bridge, the Orinoco is three kilometres wide with two navigation channels separated by a small island that is revealed during the low-water season.

The average discharge of the river at that point varies between 66 000 m³/s and 85 000 m³/s, flowing at up to 2.6 m/s and with a seasonal variation in level of 12.5 m. The crossing is composed of approximately 4.5 km of structures and carries four lanes of road traffic separated into two carriageways by a single railway track in the centre.

Unusually, these spans do not lead directly into each other as at other multi-span cable stayed bridges such as the Millau Viaduct, but are anchored at a fixed point on the mid-stream island.

In particular, it was intended to provide for a future rail connection to allow the city's heavy industrial products to be transported to the ports of Venezuela's Caribbean coast.