Its construction was highly controversial, as the Dresden Elbe Valley had been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and UNESCO expressed strong concerns against the bridge, noting its intent to withdraw the World Heritage title if the bridge were built.

[2] As plans to build a bridge at this location had existed for a century, in 1996, in line with a revised traffic model, the Dresden City Council agreed to the project.

After almost eight years of preparation for the process of obtaining planning permission, a public referendum on whether to build the bridge was held in 2005.

[5] Construction stalled after an administrative court ruled in August 2007 that steps needed to be taken to ensure that the endangered lesser horseshoe bat was protected as it was believed that only around 650 remained in Germany, with some living near the site of the proposed bridge.

[2][7] The bridge was designed by ESKR: Eisenloffel and Sattler (engineers) and Kolb and Ripke (architects) who won the open competition in 1997.