In 2017, work began on a suspension bridge across the Dardanelles Strait. We have repeatedly described the arduous crossing of the inlet by car ferry, especially when traveling with a wide caravan (2.50 meters).

And you don't necessarily have to drive through Istanbul, at least not as a trailer driver if you're heading towards Izmir anyway.

Create an alternative to the congested route through Istanbul

The new bridge is therefore not just another prestige object for the Turkish President, even if the size and implementation of the planning, execution and civil opinions were largely “determined by others”. In order to make the Turkish Aegean region and Europe easier for all vehicle drivers and a real alternative to the congested route through Istanbul, the six-lane Çanakkale Bridge was built in 1915. Whether 6 tracks are necessary remains to be seen. The Çanakkale 1915 Bridge definitely improves the connectivity of Çanakkale and Balıkesir provinces by increasing vehicle capacity and significantly reducing travel times between Europe and Asia. In addition, the new motorway offers an alternative route between southeastern Europe or the European part of Turkey and Asia Minor to the previously only road connection, the Otoyol 5 through Istanbul over the Bosphorus.

After an announcement in 2012, the Turkish Transport Minister presented the project specifically on September 1, 2014. The bridge is part of the O-6 highway, which connects the European and Asian parts of Turkey, bypassing the Istanbul metropolitan area. The construction of the bridge was tendered together with the motorway section between Malkara and Lapseki as a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) project. The tender sparked keen interest in the construction industry, including from the Japanese conglomerate IHI, which participated in the construction of the Osman Gazi Bridge near Istanbul, as well as from Chinese and South Korean companies. A joint venture between the South Korean companies Daelim and SK Group and the Turkish companies Limak Holding and Yapı Merkezi ultimately won the tender on January 26, 2017. The German HeidelbergCement is also involved:

“After the third Bosphorus Bridge was completed in 2016, HeidelbergCement is involved in another Turkish megaproject through its Akçansa joint venture: the Çanakkale 1915 Bridge is currently being built over the Dardanelles – an impressive example of sophisticated engineering,” HeidelbergCement said in a statement.

With a span of 2023 meters, it is the longest suspension bridge in the world

The Çanakkale 1915 Bridge (Turkish 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü) is the longest suspension bridge in the world, measured by its span of 2023 meters. It spans the Dardanelles as the most important construction phase of the new Kınalı-Tekirdağ-Çanakkale-Balıkesir highway. The structure is 5,169 meters long in total and consists of a 3,869-meter-long suspension bridge in the middle and two 525- and 775-meter-long girder bridges as ramps on the sides. The suspension bridge has a span of 2,023 meters between the 318-meter-high pylons and 923 meters on the outside. The bridge's carriageway is 36 meters wide and offers space for three lanes in each direction.

The Akçansa joint venture developed the product “Betonsa 1803” for the specific requirements in close cooperation with universities: The building material can be processed in a record time of six hours, can withstand a wide range of environmental conditions, is impermeable, regulates heat development and has a minimum lifespan of 100 years.

In total, six specially equipped production sites on both sides of the strait ensure that concrete production remains stable in all weather conditions, allowing construction materials to be delivered to the project around the clock. 235,000 cubic meters of concrete have already been poured since the start of the project, and a further 150,000 cubic meters are expected to be provided by the end of 2020.

There are great economic expectations in Turkey associated with the megaproject: the regions of Thrace and Western Anatolia, where important service, industrial and tourism companies are located, will be better connected. In addition, deliveries from European Union countries, especially Bulgaria and Greece, will reach western Anatolia, the Aegean Sea and other Mediterranean regions more quickly. Instead of taking half an hour to an hour by ferry, the strait should be passable in just four minutes in the future.

The official opening of the bridge took place - five years after the groundbreaking - on March 18, 2022, which was the 107th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli. The name of the bridge is intended to commemorate the Battle of Gallipoli in the First World War in 1915, which is named after the province of Çanakkale in Turkey. The height of the pylons (318 meters) is intended to commemorate March 18th of the same year, when British and French warships were sunk at approximately the site of construction. The span of 2,023 meters makes a forward-looking reference to the planned centenary celebration of the founding of “modern” Turkey in 1923.

Coordinates: 40° 20′ 35″ N, 26° 38′ 7″ E

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