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[Larix]

I know there's a simple 'turn one device off, another on' switch - Bloodbeard invented one and posted it in the minecart logic thread: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=114923.0 "Other Designs: Changeover switch". Very nice and compact. I wouldn't be surprised if you invented a very similar (or even the same) design independently.

My objective there was, however, to make the turning on and off simultaneous, or at least close. A pure changeover switch turns one device on after ~4 steps and another off after ~106. To even out the 100-step delay of off signals, you need to hook up your change switch to a pair of signal generators so that the primary switch's 'on' deactivates one signal generator, triggering an 'off' sent to the receiving device 100 steps later; and the switch's 'off' signal (sent after ~100 steps) turns the other signal generator on, near-instantly sending an 'on' to the target device. The simplest reliable signal generators should be circular minecart power-to-signal converters (with pumps, you'll have to include extra cut-off architecture to stop the flow when a pump turns off, since water flows through pumps for fifty steps after the pump loses power). At heart, it's still a pretty simple device, but takes some care setting up and wiring.

I might well be overlooking some possibility, but couldn't come up with a way to get a synchronous toggle with less machinery. And using four power-to-signal converters vs. one changeover switch and two power-to-signal converters makes no significant difference. Both result in the same parts count - four rollers, four switchable gears, four minecarts, four pressure plates.

[arbarbonif]

One other thing for the OP:  Not only does your dwarf have to be able to path to the bridge (or whatever you are linking) he has to actually walk there to do the bridge side of the linking.  So a long path will make it slower to get the linking complete.  Once the buildings are linked the path no longer matters tho, so that is when you can flood the area with magma.

This also makes linking bridges that cover stairs annoying, since you need to be able to stand on the bridge to link it and you can't get to a bridge that is covering your only stairs into the fortress from inside (for example).  Sometimes you need to have some mechanisms above the bridge, link them up, open the bridge, then disassemble that lever and attach the 'real' lever in the depths.

[MrsStick]

I had a bug this last time I tried to make a new bridge...the lever was in a "pulled" state when I linked it up, so I pulled it with the siege...and nothing happened. Fought off the gobbos (there were only 37 of them, and my traps helped lessen that number), then pulled the lever again and it worked. *facepalm*