by David Ball
Staff Writer
Dave Chappell’s workspace is filled with things to keep him from getting bored.
Normally, Chappell enjoys watching the boat traffic on the St. Johns River and listening to captains chatter on the radio. He watches TV, reads, surfs the Web when connected to the Landing’s Wi-Fi system and even exercises a little in between a lot of eating.
On certain days during the fall and winter, Chappell can look out at Mikey, a seagull that stops by his window every year. He knows it’s Mikey because of three distinct black spots on his tail, as well as some of the spots he leaves outside.
“If he looks this way and does his business, then you have to watch your hands on the handrail,” spoke Chappell, obviously from experience. “He’s just part of the scenery here.”
But occasional, Chappell breaks the ho hum routine to perform the job he is actually paid to do – lifting the draw span of the Main Street Bridge, also known as the John T. Alsop bridge named after the five-time mayor who supported the project.
The bridge, completed in 1941 for a whopping $1.5 million, has become a significant defining characteristic of Downtown Jacksonville. The two 200-foot towers house concrete counterweights that lift the span 82 feet above the water.
Chappell can go for days without a single lift, while other times the operation, which takes five to seven minutes to complete, occurs several times in a day (although he admits that drivers stuck in traffic probably feel it happens more often and takes a little longer to raise and lower the bridge).
For $9 an hour, Chappell and two other tenders work for the Florida Department of Transportation to man one of the more unique workspaces around. But, it’s a workspace that isn’t for everyone.
“We’ve gotten people up here for training, and they don’t like the motion and the height and they just quit,” said Chappell at the same time a dump truck moved across the metal span, bouncing the tender house up and down.
“If you want to do this job, you need to be safety conscious, have an attention to detail and need to be alert,” he added. “But, this is a great job if you’re a college student who wants to get some studying done.”
Chappell, a retired Navy senior chief petty officer, has tended the Main Street Bridge for more than eight years and has also worked at some of the other area draw bridges, including at the Ortega River and Sisters Creek.
“It allows me to have family time and hobbies,” he said. “I’ve been in maritime for a long time, and here I’m able to listen and watch the boat traffic. I can probably identify almost all the vessels that go by here by voice alone.”
It’s usually a call on the radio that begins the process of lifting the 365-foot span of U.S. 1, the longest such draw span in Florida, up many stories above the water. The tender house, at the middle of the span, rises to nearly 100 feet.
Chappell closes water pipes that run across the span and watches eight video monitors displaying every angle of the bridge. In addition, two other tenders go down to road-level and radio back to Chappell to ensure that no cars are in danger of falling into the St. Johns.
“We do that because 12 years ago, there was an incident where an enlisted Navy guy drove through the gates and into the water,” said Dave Hamel, FDOT director of bridge tenders.
“Now we have added a drag net to stop cars, plus a steel barrier wall now goes up when the bridge rises,” added Hamel. “It would really take something for someone to go into the water now.”
The raising of the bridge can occur 24-hours a day except during the rush hour times of 7:30-8:30 a.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. during the week. The bridge is raised an average of between 50 and 150 times a month, with the busiest months being from April-May and Oct.-Nov.
Malfunctions do occur, such as a tripped circuit breaker, but the bridge never stays stuck for very long, Chappell said. FDOT also sends a message to an electronic sign on I-95 alerting motorists that the bridge is up and to possibly find alternate routes, such as over the Acosta Bridge.