The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: bridge operator

  • Drawbridge FAQs

    So, there’s actually a person making the bridge open and close? Yep. I get that a lot. Nice to meet you. While there are some automated drawbridges out there (mostly railroad bridges in remote locations with little or no pedestrian traffic), the vast majority of drawbridges have a human operator. Safety is our primary concern,…

  • Bad Bridge! Bad!

    I’d say that working on a drawbridge is a very zen-like experience 95% of the time. Unfortunately, you never know when that 5% of pure chaos is going to rear up and bite you on the patootie. I had one of those days recently. I went to bed at 3am. No, I’m not a party…

  • “Just” 4 Minutes

    I see it happen every day. I open my drawbridge for a vessel, and at least one car does a u-turn and reroutes itself rather than waiting. This always astounds me. The average bridge opening here in Seattle is only 4 ½ minutes. But the time you take your detour, the bridge would have closed…

  • Women of the Ship Canal

    I love being a bridgetender. Especially on the day I wrote this. (I usually write my entries several days in advance.) Today, women controlled much of Seattle. It happens more often than most people realize. The transition is so smooth that it would be easy to overlook, but oh, yes, women rule. You see, there…

  • Could You be a Bridgetender?

    Within 5 minutes of meeting a new bridgetender, I can tell if he or she is going to last. And I’m never wrong. Opening drawbridges isn’t for everyone. Some people don’t even last for that 5 minutes. They take one look at the catwalks and stairways, suspended precariously high above the water, and they quit…

  • Two Ships Passing

    About two years ago, I was getting out of my car and heading to work when this guy walked past and remarked that I have the coolest job on earth. And I do. Bridgetending is unique and fun and (usually) stress-free. I can’t imagine doing anything else. But, work, schmerk. This guy was good looking,…

  • What Do You Do?

    Americans sometimes shock people from other countries by asking them what they do for a living. In many places this is considered rude. Here, it’s almost as if you can’t really decide what to think about a person until you know what’s on their resume. In Seattle, I often hesitate to tell people I’m a…

  • My Scariest Bridge Moment

    Most drawbridges, unless they are automated or opened by appointment only, are manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is a very good reason for this. Maritime law predates most other law by as much as a century. Impeding maritime transit in any way is a HUGE no-no. Bridgetenders who abandon a…

  • Why Did You Become a Bridgetender?

    One of my faithful readers/new friends asked me that question recently, and I realized that I’ve touched on the subject in this blog in the past, but never really addressed it in full. So here goes. I’ve been working and/or studying since I was 10 years old, and I’ve had 23 different jobs. Some of…

  • RIP Sisters Creek Bridge

    A friend of mine just sent me this picture, and it made me really sad. To me, this feels like a death. It is the last gasp of a drawbridge that is about to be torn down because it has been replaced by a much higher fixed span. I used to work on the Sisters…