Before the bridge opened to traffic, a dedication ceremony was held, with U.S.
[1] The Summit Bridge was the second four-lane high-level crossing in Delaware and was designed to carry an eventual US 301 freeway, however that planned freeway was never built on the alignment utilizing the Summit Bridge.
US 301 did use the bridge when it was routed along surface roads from 1961 to 2019, at which time it was rerouted onto a new toll freeway.
The current bridge replaces a former swing span structure that was demolished when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rerouted the canal to a new sea-level channel south of Lums Pond State Park.
A construction project on the approaches to the bridge was completed in Fall of 2012.