When my older boy was little, we spent a lot of time reading Kate Ascher's book on NYC infrastructure, and the section on the drawbridges over the Gowanus Canal was one of our favorites. But despite all my years living in south Brooklyn, I'd never seen one actually open ... until yesterday.

Admittedly it might have been nicer to see it when I wasn't about to cross the canal, while biking the younger kid to school. But for an infrastructure fan, hard to think of a cooler way to get delayed.