The viaduct was designed by Julius W. Adams and James P. Kirkwood and built in 1847–48 by the New York and Erie Railroad, of locally-quarried random ashlar bluestone, except for three brick interior longitudinal spandrel walls and the concrete bases of the piers.

[citation needed] It was built to solve an engineering problem posed by the wide valley of Starrucca Creek.

The Erie Railroad was well-financed by British investors but, even with money available, most American contractors at the time were incapable of the task.

The lead stonemason, Thomas Heavey, an Irish immigrant from County Offaly, worked on other projects for Kirkwood, primarily in New England.

The falsework for the bridge required more than half a million feet of cord and hewn timbers.