The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: bridge

  • Working a Tropical Storm

    We’ve had our fair share of natural disasters this year. But when you pair that with an increasing disregard for workers, you get a toxic combination. People are getting fired for having to mandatorily evacuate and therefore being unable to show up for work. People have been forced to work in extremely unsafe situations, leaving…

  • Cooperation

    Once, I was crossing a very long bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida. Actually, I should say that I was trying to cross it. Traffic was backed up for miles. Ah well. At least I had a wonderful view. And then I heard the sirens. An ambulance was attempting to get by. My heart…

  • Bridgetender vs. Bridge Operator

    I’ve been opening drawbridges since 2001. When I moved to the Seattle area three years ago, my official title became “Bridge Operator”. You will never hear me call myself that. I’m a bridgetender. Pure and simple. I have no idea how you’ve managed to overlook this controversy (Shame on you! Shame!), but this whole bridgetender…

  • Three Cheers for Stupidity?

    Recently Katie Herzog, a writer for The Stranger, a favorite publication of mine, posted a photograph of a man climbing the wide open Ballard Drawbridge here in Seattle. Fortunately this is not something that happens every day, so yes, I agree it was noteworthy. But here’s where Ms. Herzog and I part company. She said,…

  • Hot Pavement and Dogs

    At the time I wrote this it was 90 degrees in downtown Seattle. One of my tasks at work when it gets this hot is to measure the bridge gaps to make sure the metal hasn’t expanded so much in the heat that the bridge gets damaged by me trying to open it. So, I’m…

  • Opening My Bridge for the Zodiac

    Every once in a while, I have the distinct pleasure of opening my drawbridge for a true work of art. Such was the case the other day when the Schooner Zodiac passed through the Ship Canal here in Seattle. According to her website, she is 127 feet tall, and 160 feet long. You can charter…

  • 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…

  • More Time Added to my 15 Minutes of Fame!

    Suddenly my blog viewer stats were spiking. What drew people here this time? I was stumped. And then I saw the e-mail from Dave Isay of StoryCorps. Their anthology, Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work is now out in paperback form! This is exciting because one of the interviews in this book is mine,…