Suspension bridge in Turkey
The
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
(
Turkish
:
Yavuz Sultan Selim Koprusu
), also known as the
Third Bosphorus Bridge
,
[2]
is a vehicular bridge over the
Bosphorus
strait
, to the north of Istanbuls's two older
suspension bridges
, the
15 July Martyrs Bridge
being the First Bosphorus Bridge and
Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge
the Second Bosphorus Bridge. The bridge is located near the entrance to the
Black Sea
from the Bosphorus strait, between
Garipce
in
Sarıyer
on the European side and
Poyrazkoy
in
Beykoz
on the Asian side.
[3]
The foundation stone was laid on 29 May 2013
[4]
and the bridge opened to traffic on 26 August 2016.
[5]
[6]
At 322 m (1,056 ft), it is the world's fifth-tallest bridge of any type.
[7]
The main span is the
13th longest suspension bridge
in the world.
[8]
It is also one of the world's widest suspension bridges,
[9]
at 58.4 metres (192 ft) across.
[1]
Project
[
edit
]
The bridge is part of the projected 260 km (160 mi)
Northern Marmara Motorway
(
Turkish
:
Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu
), which will bypass urban areas of northern Istanbul connecting Kınalı,
Silivri
in the west and Pa?akoy,
Hendek
in the east. The 58.4-metre-wide (192 ft) bridge is 2,164 m (7,100 ft) in length with a main span of 1,408 m (4,619 ft).
[10]
Designed by the
Swiss
engineer Jean-Francois Klein (project leader) and by the
French
structural engineer
Michel Virlogeux
from T-ingenierie (a
Geneva
-based company), the bridge is a combined road-rail bridge. It carries four motorway lanes and one railway track in each direction. The construction was carried out by a consortium of the Turkish company ?cta? and the
Italian
company
Astaldi
which won the bid to construct it on 30 May 2012. The budgeted cost for the bridge was 4.5 billion TRY (approximately US$2.5 billion as of March 2013). Construction was originally expected to be completed in 36 months with the opening date scheduled for the end of 2015.
[11]
[12]
According to the
Minister of Transport and Communication
Binali Yıldırım
, of the total area nationalised for the bridge, 9.57% was private property, 75.24% was forested land, and the remaining 15.19% was state-owned land.
[13]
In June 2018, iduring the
Turkish currency and debt crisis
, Bloomberg reported that
Astaldi
and
Webuild
,
[2]
an Italian multinational construction company, were poised to sell their stake in the project for $467 million.
[14]
The project had failed to meet projections, requiring Ankara to boost operators' revenue from treasury coffers,
[15]
and since early 2018 the partners in the joint venture sought restructuring of $2.3 billion of debt from creditors.
[16]
On July 30, 2018,
China
's
ICBC
was authorized as the lead regulator to refinance the $2.7 billion loan for the bridge.
[17]
The bridge toll is set to be
?
9.90 between the motorway exits Odayeri and Pa?akoy. It is expected that at least 135,000 vehicles will use the bridge daily in each direction.
Construction
[
edit
]
Plans for a third Bosphorus bridge were approved by the Ministry of Transportation in 2012. The construction of the project was awarded to the ?cta?-
Astaldi
consortium on 29 May 2012.
[18]
Construction began officially with the laying of the foundation stone in a ceremony held on 29 May 2013, the anniversary of the
conquest of Constantinople
in 1453. The ceremony was attended by the then State President
Abdullah Gul
, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdo?an
and numerous high-ranking officials. Erdo?an directed the construction management team to complete construction within 24 months, and set the opening date for 29 May 2015.
Work was temporarily halted in July 2013 after it became evident that the site was poorly located,
[19]
but by then thousands of trees had already been cut down.
[20]
The paperwork filed for a change of plan written by the
State Highways Directorate Director-General
Mehmet Cahit Turhan on 11 June 2013, reads "it is appropriate to cancel the current construction plan due to the necessity of making a revision, which resulted from changes of the route project".
[19]
Both the ministry and the construction company have denied any change to the site location.
[21]
On 5 April 2014, a fatal accident occurred during construction of the link road to the bridge on the Asian side of the Bosphorus near Cavu?ba?ı,
Beykoz
. Three workers were killed and another was injured when he fell from collapsed scaffolding while concrete was being poured at a viaduct.
[22]
[23]
Name of the bridge
[
edit
]
At the ground-breaking ceremony President
Abdullah Gul
announced that the bridge would be named the
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
, in honour of
Ottoman
Sultan
Selim I
(
c.
1470
?1520), who
expanded
the
Ottoman Empire
into the
Middle East
and
North Africa
in 1514?1517 and obtained the title of
Caliph of Islam
for the
Ottoman dynasty
after his
conquest of Egypt in 1517
.
[24]
He was nicknamed
Yavuz
, traditionally translated in English as "Grim", but closer to "Stern" or "Implacable" in Turkish.
[25]
The choice of name led to protests by Turkey's
Alevi
community because of Sultan
Selim I
's alleged role in the
Ottoman persecution of Alevis
.
[26]
After the
?ahkulu Rebellion
(1511) in
Anatolia
, and the
Battle of Chaldiran
(1514) in
northwestern Iran
, during which the
Kızılba?
warriors of the
Alevis
in
eastern Anatolia
(who adhere to the
Shia
sect of
Islam
) sided with
Shah Ismail I
of
Safavid Persia
, the victorious Selim I ordered the massacre of the
Kızılba?
whom he considered traitors and heretics (see also
Ottoman?Safavid relations
and
Ottoman?Persian Wars
).
[27]
Controversy surrounding the bridge
[
edit
]
Land prices in the less urbanized areas on both sides of the Bosphorus immediately soared in expectation of an urbanization boom thanks to the new cross-water connection, according to
Ekumenopolis
, a documentary film of 2010 about the area.
[28]
The efficacy of the proclaimed goal of easing traffic congestion was also challenged, with some claiming that "the project is little more than a contrivance to open for development lands that had been long protected by law".
[29]
Many consider the green areas and wetlands in question, producing most of the drinking water for the city, to be "essential for Istanbul's ecological and economic sustainability, and a possible pollution of the groundwater would provoke the collapse of the city".
[30]
In 1995, Erdo?an, then mayor of Istanbul, had himself declared that a third bridge would mean "the murder of the city".
[29]
[31]
[32]
Opening ceremony
[
edit
]
The opening ceremony on 26 August 2016 was attended by Bulgarian Prime Minister
Boyko Borisov
, Bosniak president of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bakir Izetbegovi?
, Macedonian President
Gjorge Ivanov
, the King of Bahrain
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
and President of the self-declared state of
Northern Cyprus
Mustafa Akıncı
.
[5]
Also,
Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan)
Shahbaz Sharif
,
Sand?ak
Bosniak Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia
Rasim Ljaji?
, First Vice Prime Minister of
Georgia
Dimitri Kumsishvili and high-ranking officials from
Azerbaijan
also attended the opening ceremony.
[33]
Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdo?an
and Prime Minister
Binali Yıldırım
delivered speeches.
[5]
Galleries
[
edit
]
-
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, view from Poyrazkoy road
-
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Poyrazkoy leg
-
-
-
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, view from Poyrazkoy
-
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, view from Poyrazkoy
Stages of construction
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu"
(PDF)
(in Turkish). KGM. p. 22
. Retrieved
27 June
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"History, numbers and secrets of the third Bosphorus bridge"
.
webuildvalue.com
. 29 March 2023
. Retrieved
30 March
2023
.
- ^
"Turkey Unveils Route for Istanbul's Third Bridge"
.
Anatolian Agency
. 29 April 2010. Archived from
the original
on 19 June 2010.
- ^
"Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Istanbul"
.
roadtraffic-technology.com
. Retrieved
29 August
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
"3rd Bosphorus bridge opening ceremony"
.
TRT World
. 25 August 2016. Archived from
the original
on 28 August 2016.
- ^
"Istanbul's mega project Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge to open in large ceremony"
.
The Daily Sabah
. 25 August 2016
. Retrieved
29 August
2016
.
- ^
"3. kopru yuzunu gosterdi, Bakan 3. kopruyu Haberturk'e tanıttı"
. 13 July 2012
. Retrieved
29 August
2016
.
- ^
"??te 3. kopru guzergahı"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). 2010-04-29
. Retrieved
2013-03-30
.
- ^
Yackley, Ayla (August 26, 2016).
"Turkey opens bridge between continents in megaproject drive"
.
Reuters
.
- ^
"3. Boaz Kprs ve Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu"
.
3kopru.com
.
- ^
"3. Kopru Nereye Yapılacak, Ne Zaman Bitecek"
.
Bir Saniye
(in Turkish). 2012-09-26. Archived from
the original
on 2013-04-02
. Retrieved
2013-03-30
.
- ^
"??te 3. Bo?az Koprusu"
.
Cumhuriyet
(in Turkish). 2012-07-13. Archived from
the original
on 2012-07-16
. Retrieved
2013-03-30
.
- ^
"3. kopruden geci? ucretleri belli oldu"
.
Sabah
(in Turkish). 2013-02-22
. Retrieved
2013-03-30
.
- ^
"Astaldi May Fetch More Than What It Needs in Istanbul Bridge Sale"
. Bloomberg. 6 June 2018.
- ^
"??te kopru gercekleri"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish). 2 July 2017.
- ^
"Turkish Banks Face Rising Pile of Debt-Restructuring Demands"
.
Bloomberg News
. Bloomberg. 31 May 2018.
- ^
"China's ICBC authorized to refinance $2.7B loan for two Turkish megaprojects"
.
Daily Sabah
. 30 July 2018.
- ^
"3. Kopru ihalesini ?cta?-Astaldi yapacak"
.
CNN Turk
. 29 May 2012.
- ^
a
b
"Controversy over third Bosphorus bridge's route change - Latest News"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. 12 July 2013.
- ^
"Controversial Third Bosphorus Span in Istanbul Becomes the Bridge that No One Wanted to Build"
.
- ^
"Controversy over third Bosphorus bridge's route change ? ECONOMICS"
.
hurriyetdailynews.com
. 12 July 2013.
- ^
Kaya, Hakan (2014-04-06).
"3. Kopru in?aatında facia"
.
Hurriyet
(in Turkish)
. Retrieved
2015-03-25
.
- ^
"Japanese engineer commits suicide after ?zmit bridge cable snaps"
.
Today's Zaman
. 2015-03-23. Archived from
the original
on 2015-03-24
. Retrieved
2015-03-25
.
- ^
"Third Bosphorus bridge to be called 'Yavuz Sultan Selim' - Latest News"
.
Hurriyet Daily News
. 8 July 2013.
- ^
"Istanbul's new $3 billion bridge has a very divisive name"
.
The Washington Post
. 2016-08-27.
Archived
from the original on 2022-05-19.
- ^
Christiane Schlotzer:
Osmanische Traume. Bauprojekte in der Turkei
. Suddeutsche.de vom 3. Juni 2013.
- ^
Kohn, George C. (2007).
Dictionary of Wars
. Infobase Publishing. p. 385.
ISBN
978-0-8160-6577-6
.
- ^
Part of the film available
on
YouTube
, accessed 18 September 2011.
- ^
a
b
Finkel, Andrew (16 November 2011).
"The Bridge to Nowhere"
.
- ^
Gursoy & Hukum (2006), Interview with the president of Istanbul's Architect association
- ^
"It's Still a Bridge Too Far (Pt2) - the Backbencher"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-09-12
. Retrieved
2013-09-19
.
- ^
Constanze Letsch (8 June 2012).
"Plan for new Bosphorus bridge sparks row over future of Istanbul"
.
the Guardian
.
- ^
"Yavuz Sultan Selim Koprusu bugun acılıyor"
.
CNN Turk
. 26 August 2016
. Retrieved
29 August
2016
.
Sources
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Classical Era (to 330 AD)
| |
---|
Medieval (330?1453)
| |
---|
Ottoman (1299?1922)
| Pre-conquest (1299?1452)
| |
---|
Expansion (1453?1566)
| |
---|
Stagnation (1566?1827)
| |
---|
Late Empire (1828?1922)
| |
---|
|
---|
Republic Era (since 1923)
| Box-girder/beam
| |
---|
Arch
| |
---|
Truss
| |
---|
Suspension
| |
---|
Cable-stayed
| |
---|
Balanced cantilever
| |
---|
|
---|
Bridges in
italics
are under construction
|