Mehmet Cahit TURHAN, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, came to CANAKKALE and carried out investigations regarding the construction of the 1915 Dardanelles Bridge. TURHAN who later made a statement in front of the tower feet of the bridge said that 50 percent of the bridge which they planned to open to traffic in March 2022 had already been completed. He said, "When this bridge opened it will be the first in the world in terms of engineering works”.
The Minister shared that 1 billion 250 million euros of work had been done in the project worth 2 and a half billion euro so far and added that the bridge will serve a very important function regarding the role of CANAKKALE in the country’s export potential. TURHAN said it would be possible to cross the bridge in 6 minutes only whereas vehicles have to wait for between 1.5 hours and 5 hours to get on the ferry currently.
The Minister noted following: "As you know, the Aegean region and Marmara region are of great importance in terms of agriculture, tourism and industry and we realize an important part of our exports to Europe, North Asia, Africa in the Mediterranean, South Asia, Central America and South American Countries, from said regions. With the opening of this bridge to service, CANAKKALE will be an important transport axis that will serve as a bridge for said export activities.
Giving information about the structure of the bridge Minister TURHAN said, "This project is done by Build-Operate-Transfer method. The cost of the project is 2 and a half billion euros and so far we have done 1 billion 250 million euros. In other words, the percentage of the realization of the work is 50 percent and hopefully the remaining segments will be completed in next 2 years and the bridge will be opened to service. I find it helpful to share some of the figures of this project. Our distance between the two towers is 2 thousand 23 meters, we are building with a 2 thousand 23 meter span with reference to the centenary of our Republic in 2023. With the extra distances outside the towers, our total Bridge length is 4,100 meters. The height of the feet is also 318 meters above sea level”.
