What the work involves, what it pays, and grounded tasks, skills, tools, and experience you can choose from.
Also called bridge tender, crossing tender, dam tender and drawbridge tender.
$57,700
Median pay a year
3,040
People do this work
6
Resume lines ready for you
Real figures for this work, and lines you can use in your own resume. Where they come from is at the foot of this page.
An example
A Bridge and Lock Tender resume, filled in
Common skills that can help you remember what you used on the job.
Monitoring vehicle movement
Controlling traffic equipment
Directing vehicle traffic
Recording travel details
Reporting vehicle malfunctions
Monitoring traffic signals
Monitoring surroundings
Arranging maintenance activities
Cleaning machinery and equipment
Cleaning work areas
Securing watercraft
Controlling pumps
Every line comes from the same public record as the rest of this page. The greyed parts are the ones only you can answer.
Bridge and Lock Tender
Summary
Bridge and lock tender operating machinery to open and close canal locks and drawbridges, directing vessel movements and ensuring safe passage on inland waterways
Experience
Bridge and Lock Tender
Where you worked
Month Year to Month Year
Controlled machinery to open and close canal locks and drawbridges
Directed movements of vessels in locks using signals and loudspeakers
Observed position and progress of vessels to use lock spaces well
Recorded names, types, and destinations of vessels passing through locks
Moved levers to activate traffic signals, navigation lights, and alarms
Checked that bridges were clear of vehicles and pedestrians before opening
Performed maintenance duties, such as cleaning and minor repairs
Controlling traffic equipment, Directing vehicle traffic, Cleaning machinery and equipment, Cleaning work areas
Education
High School Diploma Your school, Year
Yours will not say this. You choose what matches your experience, and every line remains yours to confirm or change.
Nothing to write from scratch
What to put on a Bridge and Lock Tender resume
Real duties for this job, already written the way a resume reads. Inside Rung you choose the ones that were yours.
What did you do each day?
Choose what fits, or say your own.
Controlled machines for locks and bridgesDirected boats using signals and speakersWatched boats to use space wellRecorded names and types of vesselsMoved levers for signals and lightsChecked bridges for vehicles and people
becomes
On your resume
Operated machinery to open and close canal locks and bridges, ensuring safe passage for vessels.
Recorded names and types of vessels to maintain accurate operational logs
These are written the way a resume line reads. Rung asks which ones are actually yours, keeps your own words, and never claims work you did not do.
Then it asks for one more thing
The line that could show more, and the fact that lands it.
Make it stronger
A few lines could show more. Each one is asked, and answered by choosing.
Add how often you operated the machinery each shift.
The line
Operated machinery several times during each shift to open and close canal locks and bridges, ensuring safe passage for vessels
Add how often you operated the machinery each shift.
Pick one that fits
Several times during each shiftMultiple times every hourOften throughout the day
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Show what improved once the logs were maintained.
The line
Recorded names and types of vessels to maintain accurate operational logs
Show what improved once the logs were maintained.
Pick one that fits
Helped ensure smooth operationsImproved communication with vessel operatorsReduced waiting times for vessels
Or add your own.
In your wordsAdd it
Adding it to the line…
Added to your resume
Every ready answer is in plain words, never a figure. Nothing is invented to fill a gap.
The work itself
What a Bridge and Lock Tender does
The public record of what this job is, in one paragraph.
Operate and tend bridges, canal locks, and lighthouses to permit marine passage on inland waterways, near shores, and at danger points in waterway passages. May supervise such operations. Includes drawbridge operators, lock operators, and slip bridge operators.
What it pays
How much does a Bridge and Lock Tender make?
Annual pay across the United States. The middle figure is the median: half earn less than that, and half earn more.
25th percentile
$38,640
Median
$57,700
75th percentile
$69,620
About 3,040 people do this work in the United States.
bridgeman, crossing watchman, dam attendant, dam operator, dam repairer, draw operator, drawbridge operator, gate attendant, leverman, lighthouse keeper, lock and dam operator, lock and dam repairer, lock keeper, lock master, lock operator, lock repairer, lockman, marine tower operator, slip bridge operator, station gateman.
What you can already claim
Starting a Bridge and Lock Tender resume with no experience
Below are the tasks a Bridge and Lock Tender job is made of. Choose the ones you have really done. There is no wrong answer here, and you can change any of it later.
Which of these tasks have you actually done?
4 chosen. Rung never adds a task you did not choose.
This page is about the occupation Bridge and Lock Tenders. What this job involves and what it is made of come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, refreshed July 2026; Rung writes those records into the plain sentences you see. Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS release for 2025. How Rung handles accuracy is on the accuracy page, and the full data credits are on the credits page.