The bridge replaced a ferry that had crossed the river between Ravenswood at Walnut Street and rural Lebanon Township since at least 1908.[3][4] When the bridge opened in 1981, on the Ohio side of the river, the bridge and its approach route carried the 0.57-mile-long (0.92 km) Ohio State Route 824 (SR 824).[5] The crossing originally led to a winding two-lane SR 338. On the West Virginia side, the bridge carried West Virginia Route 338.[6][1] In 2003, the SR 824 and WV 338 designations were removed when the US 33 relocation in Meigs County was completed and the US 33 designation was moved onto the bridge.[7]