疫情期间车流减少 德国城市扩充自行车道

新冠肺炎疫情期间，德国道路上汽车减少。为了让骑车上下班的人保持足够的身体距离，一些城市临时增划道路标识，扩充自行车道。

这是4月11日在德国首都柏林的波茨坦广场附近拍摄的空旷的街道。 Local authorities in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin trialled a temporary widening of two cycle lanes on 27 March, arguing it would help cyclists keep the required 1.5-metre distance apart while car traffic was down owing to Germany’s coronavirus restrictions.

3月27日，柏林克罗伊茨贝格区地方政府尝试临时扩充两条自行车道，理由是在德国新冠肺炎疫情限制措施期间，路面汽车流量减少，扩充自行车道可以帮助骑车者按规定保持1.5米距离。

On Friday, the council declared the pilot scheme a success because it had improved cycling safety while not hindering traffic. An expansion of the scheme on further roads in Kreuzberg, as well as in the Schöneberg and Tempelhof districts, is planned for the coming weeks.

上周五 The council said it had used removable tape and mobile signs to mark out the expanded lanes, which can be removed when the current restrictions on movement are lifted.

区政府称，他们使用可移除胶带和移动标记标出扩充的车道。等到目前限制人员流动的规定取消后，这些车道标识可以去除。

Residents in 133 other German cities have formally submitted applications for similar pop-up bike lanes to their local authorities on the back of a campaign by Environmental Action Germany (DUH), an environmental NGO.

在非政府环保组织德国环境行动组织发起的运动支持下，德国另外133个城市的居民也向当地政府正式递交了申请，要求增设类似自行车道。

The campaign group cites new research linking air pollution to higher coronavirus death rates as an argument for redrawing infrastructure across the country.

该组织引述了空气污染与新冠肺炎死亡率较高的有关最新研究成果，要求在全国重划车道。

“The coronavirus is showing us that clean air is an indispensable asset,” said DUH’s chair, Jürgen Resch. “It is now especially important to temporarily make it more important for people to move safely on their bikes. This will help improve air quality, enable exercise in fresh air while keeping a safe distance and avoid unnecessary accidents.”

该组织的主席尤尔根·雷施说：“新冠病毒向我们表明，清洁的空气是一种不可或缺的资产。现在尤为重要的是，暂时让人们更安全地骑自行车。这将有助于改善空气质量，让人们可以在运动时呼吸新鲜空气，同时保持安全距离，避免不必要的事故。

indispensable [ˌɪndɪˈspensəbl]：adj.不可缺少的；绝对必要的

Proponents of the scheme cite the Colombian capital, Bogotá, as the example to emulate, where the mayor, Claudia López, opened up nearly 72 miles (117km) of new bike routes in mid-March in the hope of reducing congestion and person-to-person contact.

该计划的支持者以哥伦比亚首都波哥大为例，波哥大市长克劳迪娅•洛佩兹在3月中旬新开辟了近72英里 German states have encouraged the use of bicycles in spite of the current restrictions, under which gatherings of more than two people are banned, with exceptions for families.

尽管德国目前在疫情期间实行限制措施，但各州仍鼓励人们骑自行车。根据目前的限制措施，除了家人外，禁止两个人以上的聚集。

“The use of a bicycle allows citizens to meet the requirements for minimising contact,” a spokesperson for the transport ministry in Thuringia told the German news agency dpa.

图林根州交通运输部的一位发言人对德国资讯机构dpa说：“使用自行车可以让市民达到尽量减少接触的要求。”

In Germany, bike repair shops are currently exempt from state-ordered closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Three federal states, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, have also allowed bike vendors to stay open.

在德国，自行车修理店目前不受国家新冠肺炎疫情封锁命令的限制。柏林、萨克森-安哈尔特和梅克伦堡-前波莫恩三个联邦州也允许自行车销售商继续营业。