It connects the areas of King's Hill and Vista Ridge (the entire southern hillside is also referred to as Portland Heights) which are both in the Goose Hollow neighborhood.

[5] The bridge has four pedestrian balconies, or "refuge bays"[6] (extensions outward from the sidewalk), holding concrete benches, two on each side.

[7] Completed in 1926, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, as the Vista Avenue Viaduct, on April 26, 1984.

[9][10] Council Crest was the site of the "Big Tree Observatory" (built for the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition) and a popular amusement park and dance hall that operated from 1907 to 1929.

[16] Following the erection of a suicide barrier in the fall of 2013, as a result of protest on the behalf of local residents, a would-be jumper managed to get around the barrier but was talked down by police;[18] in January 2014, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed himself on the bridge, tumbling onto the adjacent embankment.