紐時賞析／貨輪越來越大 官員憂基伊大橋坍塌事件重演

「达利号」货柜船3月26日凌晨撞上位于马里兰州巴尔的摩的基伊大桥。（纽约时报）

Projects to Fortify Bridges Face Test as Ships Bulk Up

强化桥梁结构 问题是船愈来愈大

As larger and faster container ships began to chug up the Delaware River in recent years, transportation officials feared the prospect of one going astray that would lead to a repeat, or worse, of what happened in 1969, when a tanker struck the Delaware Memorial Bridge and caused significant damage.

随着近年来更大与更快的货柜轮开始在德拉瓦河呼啸而过，运输官员担心，一旦有船开错方向，将导致1969年的事件重演，或者更糟；当时一艘油轮撞上德拉瓦纪念大桥，造成严重损坏。

So, last year, work began on a $93 million project to build eight massive cylinders that would stand guard in front of the bridge’s piers in order to protect a system that carries tens of thousands of vehicles a day.

所以，去年，一项9300万美元的计划开始动工，要修建8个巨大圆柱，在桥墩前方守卫，以保护一天承载数以万计车辆的系统。

“The tankers and cargo ships of 1950 aren’t the tankers and cargo ships of today,” said James Salmon, a spokesperson for the Delaware River and Bay Authority.

德拉瓦河湾管理局的发言人萨蒙说，「1950年的油轮和货船可不是今日的」。

Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after a cargo ship nearly three football fields long crashed into it, claiming the lives of six people, has prompted questions about whether similar disasters could happen elsewhere.

巴尔的摩基伊大桥周二遭一艘将近3个足球场长的货轮撞上坍塌，夺走6个人性命，引发类似灾难是否会在别处发生的质疑。

But the work on the Delaware Memorial Bridge reflects the fact that some transportation and maritime experts have been mulling the hazards of new cargo ships squeezing under decades-old bridges for some time. There are no easy answers, in part because ships keep getting bigger.

但德拉瓦纪念大桥的工程反映出一个事实，即长久以来，一些运输与海事专家一直在考量新货船挤在数十年历史桥梁下方的危险。没有简单的答案，部分原因出在船只愈来愈大。

Many transportation officials say drawing parallels to the Key Bridge is difficult because what happened in Baltimore appeared to be such an unusual event — a confluence of factors at the worst time. As the ship, the Dali, hurtled through the harbor without a tugboat connected to it, it experienced a “complete blackout” and lost control, then struck a pier that had small protective barriers.

官员表示，要跟基伊大桥对照有困难，因为巴尔的摩发生的事似乎是个很不寻常的事件，是多种因素在最坏时刻的汇集。「达利号」这艘船没有拖船连接就冲过港口，经历一次「完全停电」并失去控制，然后撞上一个只有小型防护围篱的桥墩。

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that they were not only examining the protection system around the Key Bridge, but seeking records about the protections around other bridges in Maryland.

国家运输安全委员会的官员周三表示，他们不只正在检查围绕基伊大桥的保护系统，还在寻找马里兰州其他桥梁周围防护的相关纪录。

Efforts to enhance bridges are frequently slowed because of the many state and federal governmental entities involved, the often glacial pace of funding and the construction time required for such large-scale projects. Still, some places have seen results.

因涉及许多州跟联邦政府单位，强化桥梁行动经常拖延，这类大型计划拨款往往牛步，施工也要时间。尽管如此，一些地方已有成果。

In Minnesota, a boat pushing 12 barges rammed into a Union Pacific railroad bridge near St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2017, damaging a century-old pier. A protection system was built around the new pier.

2017年在明尼苏达州，一艘船推着12艘平底船，撞上明州圣保罗附近一座联合太平洋铁路桥，破坏了一个百年历史桥墩。新桥墩周围兴建了保护系统。

In New York, the Bayonne Bridge was raised by 64 feet in 2019 to accommodate increasingly larger vessels calling at the container ports in New Jersey and Staten Island.

纽约贝玉扬桥2019年擡高64呎，以配合停靠新泽西州与史泰登岛货柜港的船只愈来愈大。

文／David W. Chen and Mike Baker 译／周辰阳