The Indian River Inlet is a water opening in a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Bay, which is fed by the Indian River. The inlet has traditionally migrated north and south over a 2 mile long section of the barrier island. Since the inlet moved often, it remained rather shallow. In order to bridge the inlet, the gap had to be stabilized. This was done first by dredging, which started in 1928, and later the construction of jetties in 1938. The jetties constrained the width of the inlet. Since the water could not scour the inlet wider, it started to deepen the inlet.

A new bridge was built in 1965, with a 2nd parallel span added in 1976. That bridge has piers sitting in the water on the sides of the channel. In recent years, especially following a recent hurricane. A survey in 1980 revealed scour holes that had grown over 100 feet deep and were in danger of undercutting the bridge piers. The Delaware DOT has been struggling to keep the bridge safe since that time. As of 2007, the before the piers collapse into the inlet.

A new bridge over the inlet was designed in the 2000s. It was to be a landmark bridge with a single reinforced concrete arch, with a wide highway and regional trail bridge deck suspended on cables. The bridge project started in 2005 with grading, approaches and retaining walls. The bridge was designed so that it start and land on gravel ramps built up to the edge of the inlet.

Once the new bridge work was underway, the bridge structure project was sent out to bid. The bids were expected to be in the $120-million range, but came back in the $200-million dollar range. There simply was not enough money in the budget to complete this bridge as designed. In addition, the US Army Corps of Engineers determined that the jetties were in danger of failing, and that could cause the inlet to widen considerably.

At that point, Delaware DOT had to go back to the drawing board. They proposed to recast the project as a design and build project. Using this method, vendors proposed to do both the bridge design and build the bridge to that design. The final vendor would be picked both on their skills in building bridges as well as the merits of the design. The winning design is a large cable stayed bridge. The low bid was $149-million, within a few dollars of the $150-million budget for the project.

The new bridge will have 4 free-standing towers reaching 240 into the air, with 2 towers on each side of the inlet. Each tower will support one plane of cables, with two parallel cable planes in series supporting a 1,300 foot long main span. This puts 900 feet of the bridge over water, and 1,700 feet over land, more than enough distance to accommodate a wider inlet channel. The down side of the new design is that all of the work that Delaware DOT has invested in the project so far is no longer needed, and will have to be removed.