This is a Renaissance monument, the work of the architect Juan de Herrera at the request of Felipe II. It is located at the crossroads of Calle de Segovia and the Manzanares River, a point that has historically been one of the main accesses to the town.

It was formerly known as the "Segovian bridge" and the first references to this construction date back to the 14th century, when King Alfonso XI of Castile authorised its construction by means of two letters written in 1345 and 1346. In the first drawings and paintings of the city, dating from the 16th century, the bridge appeared with either nine or thirteen arches.

Six decades after its opening, in 1648, the architect José de Villarreal repaired the upper deck. In 1648, an ornamental gate, the work of Teodoro Ardemans, was placed in front of the bridge to give it greater monumentality. This element was removed with the passage of time.

In November 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, it was blown up by the government to prevent rebel soldiers under the command of General Yagüe from entering Madrid. After the war, the new government rebuilt it, introducing some variations on the original design. It was widened, and four skates and a jetty were built at its foot as part of the works to canalise the Manzanares River.

In the 1960s, it was again reformed to facilitate the construction of the M-30 motorway. Until 2007, the year in which this road was buried, the M-30 passed under two overpasses installed at its ends, along the line of the bridge's layout.

The M-30 underground works uncovered various archaeological remains corresponding to a primitive bridge located some 95 metres north of the current bridge. The remains of an abutment with a cutwater and the beginnings of two semicircular arches have been found. It currently forms part of the Madrid Río Park, a pedestrian and recreational area on the banks of the Manzanares River.