Must be a world wide phenomenon, there was one lifting bridge over a narrow channel of the harbour a simple 1926 mechanical one, with the opening of ferry services to Franced and the Channel Islands plus normal increases in traffic over the years they wanted a second bridge, back in the 1990's they commissioned a study (for £xM) to figure out what sort of bridge to have and where to put it, came up with a brilliant idea for a fairly conventional long bridge over a bay, avoiding the town centre thus improving access to the ferry terminal, Central gov axed it on cost grounds, so the council spent more millions looking for an alternative, finally after nearly 20 years they decided on a second lifting bridge a few hundred yards away from the existing one, not satisfied with an efficient mundane mechanical one they got conned I(by a team of consultants) to go for an "iconic" looking device operated by hydraulics and electronics. Might look "stunning" cost over £21M to build,
(linked from Google)
But it keeps on failing either fully or part open or failing to open at all; failing to open aggravates all the yachtsmen at various marinas who can't get into or out of the bay, so much so that they have moved to other ports; failing to close aggravates the motorists stuck unable to cross.
The real problems start when the original bridge is down for its few days annual maintenance and the new bridge chooses to fail, then it's an 8 mile trip round the bay AKA Upton Lake
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7157506,-1.994552,15z?hl=en