The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: ortega river bridge

  • Things I Miss About Florida

    It occurs to me that I trash-talk Florida quite a bit in this blog. I never thought I’d say this, but there are things I miss about the Sunshine State. After all, I lived there for 40 years. Granted, I spent most of those years trying really hard to get the hell out of there,…

  • 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…

  • My Career from Above

    My Career from Above

    I decided to check out all my bridges on Google Maps. Ah, what memories.

  • Drawbridge Style

    It has been my privilege to be one of the few bridgetenders on the planet to have had the opportunity to operate all three of the most common styles of drawbridges. So here is an extremely basic primer.   This is a bascule bridge. These come in the form of a double span, like the…

  • When in Doubt, Blame the Bridgetender

    Recently they did a long overdue rehab of the Ortega River Bridge here in Jacksonville, Florida. It took about 9 months. During much of that time the drawbridge was in the open position. Boats could come and go, but the road was closed to traffic. Not only were there big orange and white reflective barricades…