William H. Harsha Bridge replaced a 1940-era suspension bridge that had deteriorated to the point that heavy trucks were no longer allowed, and lighter trucks had a very low speed limit. Several bridge designs were explored, and the Cable Stayed system ended up being 13% less expensive, so the design won the competition.

This bridge was built after the problem of cable vibration was well understood. Many earlier cable stayed bridges had problems with the stay cables vibrating during light rain showers. Older bridges had to be retrofit with a dampening mechanisms. On the Harsha Bridge, the cables were encased in a plastic tube. That tube has a small ridge on it that spirals around the tube for its full length. The ridge provides a small amount of lift that disturbs the air around the cables just enough where the vibration will not get started. This was an extremely cheap solution to a problem that has proven to be very costly to some earlier cable stayed bridge operators.

William H. Harsha was a Congressman from Ohio from 1961 to 1981.