The Burlington- Bristol Bridge

Preparing for evacuations — Many of the deficiencies found in bridges outside of the nation’smajor ports are also a result of deteriorating barriers around the piers. It was a problem that inspectors identified at 98 major bridges — those carrying at least 10,000 vehicles per day.

In many cases, local officials are looking at alternatives to expensive new construction to help lower the risk.

In 2015, a 600- foot freighter lost propulsion as it traveled along the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Seconds before the vessel reached the BurlingtonBristol Bridge, it crashed into the riverbank instead, averting disaster.

The span is one of several along the Delaware River — including the Tacony- Palmyra Bridge and the Ben Franklin Bridge, both gateways to Philadelphia — where inspectors found deteriorated protection systems around the bridge piers.

Michaelmccarron, the director of operations at the Burlington County Bridge Commission, said repair work this year will involve some attention to the bridge’s protection system.

At the same time, the county is focusing on how to evacuate the bridges in the event of a looming collision, using tower operators who are in constant communication with vessels and a police force always at the ready. “Time is of the essence,” he said.

Farther down the river, at the Delawarememorial Bridge, crews are building one of the nation’s most advanced protection systems. That $ 93million project includes concrete “dolphins,” each 80 feet in diameter and rooted 45 feet deep in the riverbed, that will guide any troubled ships away from the bridge.

After a freighter knockeddown Florida’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980, killing 35 people, a rebuilt span there also included a network of concrete islands for protection.