A major New Jersey drawbridge can now be operated remotely, not by a local crew

The Coast Guard proposes to change how the Lehigh Valley Drawbridge in Newark Bay, New Jersey, is operated. Instead of a local crew, the bridge will be controlled remotely from a dispatch center in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

For decades, drawbridges required an operator on site to open and close them for passing ships. This change means that one person can now operate multiple bridges from a central location. This could reduce labor costs for bridge operators and potentially speed up response times for opening and closing bridges.