The opening ceremony of the third bridge over the Bosphorus Strait was held on Friday, August 26th with the participations of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, PM Binali Yıldırım, Turkish Parliamentary Speaker İsmet Kahraman, former PM Ahmet Davutoğlu, Commander of Turkish Armed Forces Hulusi Akar, former President Abdullah Gül and the king of Bahrain.
It was earlier reported that the Bridge was named after an Ottoman Sultan Yavuz Sultan Selim who assumed the title of “Caliphate” to Turks by defeating Umayyads.
The foundation of the bridge was laid on 29th May of 2013, and the last apron of the bridge was placed on 6th March of 2016. In other words, the bridge, which costs nearly $3 billion, completed in a record time.
“This bridge upon which we look with pride will hopefully be a pioneer for many things. … We will be proud of it, you will see. International movies will be filmed here; you will see” Erdoğan told the audience during the opening ceremony of the bridge.
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, with its 59m-width, is the broadest drawbridge of the world, the highest drawbridge of the world, with its 320m-heigt tower, and the longest rail system housing-drawbridge of the world, with its 1400m-length rail system as the main span.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told the audience that “the bridge will not only serve Istanbul but also serve the historic Silk Road, starting from the Far East, ending in Europe and bringing civilizations together by connecting people.”
The rail system was designed as a part of the bridge so that make it possible to transport passengers between İzmit and Edirne. Also, with the integration of Marmaray, Istanbul Metro and the 3rd Bridge, Atatürk Airport, Sabiha Gökçen Airport and the 3rd Airport-under construction- will be interconnected with each other.
By these integrations, the aim is to decrease the traffic jam in Istanbul’s other two bridges as well as to solve the air pollution and environmental issues caused from the heavy traffic of the city. Therefore, heavy vehicles will not be permitted to pass over the other bridges of Istanbul after the 3rd Bridge put into service. Besides, as the 3rd Bridge will decrease the density of traffic of other bridges, fuel loss and workforce loss causing financial loss, which is 3 billion liras per year, will be removed.
The mega project Yavuz Sultan Selim costs 4.5 Billion Turkish Liras. The toll of the bridge is 9.90 TL for autos and 21.29 TL for heavy vehicles. President Erdoğan heralded that the toll will not be applied the midnight of 31 August.
Born and raised in Istanbul where I’m a medical student at YeditepeUniversity.