Bridge tender has a bad day?

[High Wire]

This was in my back yard. Thank God no one was seriously hurt.

Family Shaken After Bridge Opens with Them on It | News | capemaycountyherald.com

 

[Pgitug]

How close is this to Englewood Florida?

 

[psneeld]

It was in Cape May, NJ.....

 

[CDreamer]

"According to sources, the Bridge Operator had recently been released from command of the USS Fitzgerald and had been on the job for two weeks.. "The job description said, 'Bridge' so I felt like I had the right experience.", said Bryce Benson. "This is a little embarrassing." The Committee On Drawbridges as General Entry Routes ("CODGER") is looking into the matter, but will not likely make its findings public.

 

[Seevee]

It was in Cape May, NJ.....

Yea, would have been easy to put the state in the article... I thought Florida, too. But, we're all guilty of not giving locations

 

[TowLou]

I thought I heard there was a vessel on way to the bridge with a radio that was not working and they had to hurry to open the bridge.

I only heard that I think on 101.5 local NJ radio station.

 

[BandB]

We had one in our area close too soon a couple of years ago. About a million dollars in damages. And quite an argument over who was responsible. State? County, City? Operator? I never heard the resolution of if the boat owner got any compensation from any of them.

 

[High Wire]

How close is this to Englewood Florida?

Sorry, I forgot to amend my signature line this summer
Yes this is the ICW bridge between Cape May and Wildwood Crest NJ known as "Two Mile Landing" bridge.

 

[hfoster]

This was in my back yard. Thank God no one was seriously hurt.

Family Shaken After Bridge Opens with Them on It | News | capemaycountyherald.com

Thanks for the post High Wire.

There are a great deal of questions to be answered on this one. I wonder how this one will pan out???

Cheers.

H.

 

[High Wire]

I'll bet the lawyers are knocking at their door.

 

[hfoster]

I'll bet the lawyers are knocking at their door.

I am sure they are. One thing I do wonder about, is how did the couple get on the bridge? I understand there are red lights to stop traffic, so I guess it comes down to when the light was red!

Cheers.

H.

 

[High Wire]

Normally there is one toll taker who drops the gates then walks over and operates the lift. You can't go wrong. On this day there were two workers that appeared to not communicate very well.
I'm sure there is a case study in human error in this mess.

 

[psneeld]

There are physical barriers to stop traffic in addition to lights.

This is a toll bridge and some reqire the toll taker to leave the toll booth in the middle of the roadway to go to the tenders station on the side of the bridge.

Have no idea of how it happened, but in the countless openings of bridges along the coast for years and years, first I have heard of....will interested in hearing the cause.

 

[hfoster]

Normally there is one toll taker who drops the gates then walks over and operates the lift. You can't go wrong. On this day there were two workers that appeared to not communicate very well.
I'm sure there is a case study in human error in this mess.

I thought there should been gates on a lift bridge. I never seen one that didn't have them. (Well when I was a kid I did.)

High Wire, I believe you are 100% corrected in saying. "The two workers did not communicate very well!" Thank you for clearing some things up Mate.

Cheers.

H.

 

[High Wire]

The strange thing is there were THREE cars between the gates! This could have been a disaster.

 

[hfoster]

The strange thing is there were THREE cars between the gates! This could have been a disaster.

Three??? Wow someone dropped the ball that is for sure! I am sure someone will be canned over this one. Well the good thing is no one really harmed.

Thanks High Wire.

Cheers Mate.

H.

 

[Keysdisease]

Here in South Florida its rare but not unheard of for there to be this type of event.

You want to talk about a Really BAD day for a Bridge Tender, back in...

1981, March 2 - An FKAA truck hauling a backhoe struck a propane tank below the bridgetender's quarters on the seven mile bridge, causing an explosion and fire. The bridgetender died. The bridge remained closed to marine traffic until Spring of 1982, when the new bridge opened. Vehicular traffic was closed in both directions over US-1 for several days.

Luckily for me I was on the "right" side of the bridge (the side I lived on) when this happened. The Bridge Tender was an acquaintance of mine, was married to a lady that worked at a marine supply store on Big Pine that was one of my clients.

Seven Mile Bridge (original) - swing bridge