Similar in its purpose to other bridges along the canal, this bridge carried traffic over the canal to farmlands and to a ferry on the Potomac River which crossed from Maryland to Virginia. The bridge was important to trade in the area. The abandonment of this bridge can be linked to changes in America's commercial activities and transportation routes in the first half of the twentieth century. The structure's Warren metal truss exemplifies a prevalent bridge form for American bridges from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century.