[6] As originally designed, the bridge approach on the Queens side descended to ground level via a 1,016-foot (310 m)-long plate girder viaduct, then another 194 feet (59 m) on a concrete ramp.

[8] At each end of the suspension span are two anchorages that hold the main cables, both of which are freestanding concrete structures measuring 180 by 110 feet (55 by 34 m).

In Queens, the Whitestone Expressway (I-678) extends south to an interchange with the Cross Island Parkway, located just past the end of the bridge's approach ramps.

[17] At the time, residents around the proposed area of the bridge protested construction in fear of losing the then-rural character of the community.

Queens public administrator Alfred J. Kennedy later recalled that in 1911, while he was in the New York State Assembly, he had proposed such a bridge but that his plan was "ridiculed".

[4]: 116  The next year, urban planner Robert Moses formally proposed a Clason Point-to-Whitestone bridge as part of the Belt Parkway around Brooklyn and Queens.

[26] In 1932, the New York City Board of Estimate started soliciting applications from private companies to build and operate the crossing as a toll bridge.

[4]: 116 In 1936, governor Herbert H. Lehman signed a bill that authorized the construction of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, which would connect Queens and the Bronx.

[37][38] The following January, Lehman signed a bill that allowed the TBA to issue bonds for the construction of the bridge.

[42] The same month, approval of a suspension span between Ferry Point and Whitestone was given by Harry Hines Woodring, the United States Secretary of War.

[52] The next month, the city had started evicting residents in the path of the bridge's approaches, and officials notified seventeen households in Whitestone that they had ten days to find new housing.

[55] A groundbreaking ceremony was held in November 1937, when the Mayor of New York City, Fiorello H. La Guardia, laid the cornerstone for the bridge's Bronx anchorage.

[56] Construction on the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, along with several other road-improvement projects, was sped up so that the regional road network would be ready in time for the 1939 World's Fair.

[8][75][76][77] Both the Whitestone and College Point neighborhoods had celebrations for the new project, which Moses described as a "logical and inevitable part of the Belt Parkway program".

[75] The bridge featured pedestrian walkways and four lanes of vehicular traffic, and passenger vehicles were initially charged 25 cents.

[81] In preparation for the 1939 World's Fair, amber street lights were installed on the bridge's approach roads, as well as other key corridors around the city.

A 10-acre (4.0 ha) park under the Queens side of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, named for Declaration of Independence signatory Francis Lewis, was opened in 1940.

[19] On the Bronx side, the blueprint for Ferry Point Park had been developed in conjunction with the bridge's construction, and additional facilities were added in the early 1940s.

[98][102][103] To mitigate the risk of failure from high winds, eight stay cables, two on each side of both suspension towers, were proposed for installation.

[98][103] Although $1 million was initially allocated for the bridge-stiffening project, construction was deferred due to material and labor shortages during World War II.

On both sides of the deck, 14-foot (4.3 m)-high steel trusses were installed to weigh down and stiffen the bridge in an effort to reduce oscillation.

[114] These highway upgrades were performed in preparation for the 1964 New York World's Fair, which was also held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

[122] In 1968, a heavy storm with winds of up to 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) caused the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge's deck to bounce,[123][124] though the additional trusses helped to reduce vertical movements.

[11]By 2001, the TBTA's successor Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) planned to spend $286 million in bridge renovations.

In 2003, the MTA restored the classic lines of the bridge by removing the stiffening trusses and installing fiberglass fairing along both sides of the road deck.

[130][12] The lightweight fiberglass fairing is triangular in shape, giving it an aerodynamic profile that allows crosswinds to flow through the bridge rather than hit the trusses.

Instead, cameras and E-ZPass readers are mounted on new overhead gantries manufactured by TransCore[149] near where the booths were located.

[177] After the removal of the sidewalks starting in 1943, bicyclists were able to use QBx1 buses of the Queens Surface Corporation, which could carry bicycles on the front-mounted bike racks.

However, since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority absorbed the bus routes formerly operated by Queens Surface, the bike racks were eliminated.

[178] In April 1994, bike racks were installed onto QBx1 buses,[179] but the bike-on-bus program was eliminated on February 27, 2005, the same day as the MTA's takeover of the QBx1 route.