Personally, I think contacts are harder than a simple loop of wire, and I've done both. Also, if you have switches or other accessories on the lift bridge, you'll end up with a lot of contacts.
My bridge has three power feeds and four switch machines on it. To do these with contacts, I'd have a lot of contacts!
It also has the lower limit switch spring loaded pulley under the center with it's own cable. Obviously, I couldn't just use contacts for the limit switch as it has to have it continuously connected.
I have a bunch of cable loops on both sides, they just hang down on the side of the bridge when it goes down. FWIW, this is not unlike what elevators do in may buildings, just on a smaller scale my my small "elevator".
This is a piece of cake to do and will do the job just fine.
Top of the bridge
Bridge raised, left side
Bridge raised, right side
Bridge lowered, cable loop hanging alongside
Ignore the lever nuts hanging there, haven't gotten around to dressing them up.
