Questions & Answers
Question – Mr. S asks – You fix bridges? What is the weirdest problem you’ve ever had to fix?
Answer – That sir, is a very hard question to answer. I’ve been responding to drawbridge failures for just shy of 30 years now. In that time I have had hundreds of failures, big and small, on four different types of movable span bridges. The reasons for each failure span the gamut from component failure to suicidal pigeons.
On second thought, after reading back what I just wrote, I’m going to have to say that suicidal pigeons are the weirdest problem I’ve ever run across. When a bascule bridge is lowering after letting vessels through, the structure comes to rest upon what are known as live load bearings. These bearings support not only the weight of the span itself but also the weight of the traffic that flows across the bridge when it is down.
If any type of obstruction finds its way onto the bearing pads prior to the span seating itself, the bridge will refuse to fully seat which keeps the locks from engaging and thereby keeps traffic stuck until the obstruction can be cleared by maintenance. This obstruction can be as small as a pebble or BB and it will not let the bridge complete its cycle.
Sometimes it is debris that falls from the grid deck onto the pads, or even a piece of shell dropped by a seagull that causes the problem but on more than one occasion it has been a pigeon. After encountering the aftermath of this for years, I happened to be coming into the machinery area during an opening one day and witnessed a pigeon sitting on the bearing pad as the brige was being lowered.
I tried yelling at the creature to try and shoo it away but it sat there serenely watching as the lowering bridge crept closer and closer, ultimately bringing its doom. It actually unnerved me a little. To this day I’m not quite sure if the pigeon was too stupid to notice its impending demise or if it was indeed at the end of its rope. Either way, it has to be the weirdest way that I’ve experienced for a drawbridge to become stuck.
Question – Kelly W. asks – Why do drawbridges open during rush hour traffic? The one I cross daily makes me late for work all the time.
Answer – Great question! Each drawbridge in the US has a set and listed schedule that can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations. Specifically CFR Title 33, Chapter I, Subchapter J, Part 117, Subpart B (sounds very governmental, right?) You can actually find the exact schedule requirements for your specific drawbridge listed there but in general terms, the maritime vessel traffic usually has right-of-way.
Before a drawbridge is even built, the owners (usually a state, county or municipality) must apply for permission to interfere with maritime traffic over navigable waters. They generally agree to stipulations that grant waterway traffic the right-of-way in general. Depending on the volume of roadway traffic, concessions are sometimes granted that restrict openings for non-commercial vessels to certain times of the day (i.e. perhaps on the hour) while openings for commercial vessels are widely left unrestricted.
Every bridge is different though. Some bridges do restrict openings for even commercial vessels to certain times but it is more rare than common. Also, conditions do change so a change in restrictions can be petitioned for if the impact of bridge openings has become too severe. Generally your drawbridge owner would need to petition the Coast Guard for these changes, so that is where you should start your efforts. Good luck!
Question – M. R. asks – Is it hard to learn how to run a drawbridge? What kind of training would I need?
Answer – The short answer is no, it is not difficult to learn how to operate a bridge. Most new trainees are actually running the bridge by the second day of training. (With significant oversight!)
But, and this is a huge but, it can take years of experience to mold someone into a great bridge tender. Anyone can be trained to push the buttons and turn the switches in the correct order for the bridge to raise and lower. The critical part of being a good bridge tender is in the strict adherence to training and the safety protocols each operator learns during their training.
There’s an expression that goes “complacency kills”…I’m not sure where it came from but it is spot on when discussing bridge tenders. If a bridge tender starts relaxing on some of the trained safety protocols because they’ve been doing the job for years now and nothing bad has ever happened, they are not being a good bridge tender and may be endangering the public or the bridge itself.
All that being said, I highly recommend the job. The pay may never be six figures but good bridge tenders are a huge benefit to the traveling public even though they will rarely if ever receive any recognition for the benefits that they provide. You will have some of the best views in the world out of your office window though.
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