[7] In 1915, the city government gave the Union Railway Company permission to construct trolley tracks over the bridge.

On April 12, 2011, granite from the structure was given to a nearby park while the metal part was moved via tug to Jersey City.

[3][10] The Department of Transportation opted to construct a new structure to the south of the existing bridge at a projected cost of $417 million.

Iris Weinshall, the department commissioner, said that the city had to go forward with the project because maintenance of the existing bridge was too expensive and the design of the ramps contributed to frequent accidents.

Just upstream, the Third Avenue Bridge carries southbound traffic across the Harlem River from the Bronx to Manhattan as the other side of a one-way pair.

In a famous publicity photo for the film Midnight Cowboy, Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo (Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman) are seen walking on the old Willis Avenue Bridge.

[15] The Willis Avenue Bridge carries the M125 bus route operated by MTA New York City Transit.