1915 Çanakkale Bridge

Design and cost

The bridge's tender project was designed by Turkey-based Tekfen Construction and Installation and detailed designed by Denmark-headquartered COWI A/S and by Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants (PEC) in South Korea (for cable design and approach bridge design packages only). UK-headquartered Arup Group and Norway-based Aas-Jakobsen conducted independent design verification. The Administrator consultants are Tekfen and Switzerland-based T-ingénierie.

The total length of the bridge is 3,563 m and together with the approach viaducts the length reaches 4,608 m, which surpasses the total length of the Osman Gazi Bridge and its approach viaducts by 527 m, to become the longest bridge of any type in Turkey.

The height of the bridge's two towers is 334 m, making it the tallest bridge in Turkey, surpassing Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, and the third tallest structure in the country. Internationally, the bridge is the fifth tallest bridge in the world. The deck of the bridge is 72.8 m high and 45.06 m wide, with a maximum thickness of 3.5 m. The deck carries six lanes of motorway (three in each direction), together with a walkway on each side for maintenance.

According to President Erdoğan, the bridge cost 2.5 billion euros (2.7 billion US dollars) to build, but would save €415 million ($458 million) per year from a reduction of fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

History

Proposals for a bridge spanning the Dardanelles Strait have existed since the 1990s. A bridge was proposed again in 2012 and went on to be placed in the Turkish government's future transportation projects list in 2014. In September 2016, the government officially launched the bridge building project.

The contract was awarded to a consortium containing Turkish companies Limak Holding and Yapı Merkezi and South Korean companies DL Holdings and SK Ecoplant. Construction began in March 2017. The bridge was initially scheduled for completion in September 2023, and later brought forward to March 2022.

On 16 May 2020, the second tower was completed, on the Gallipoli side (European coast). By 13 November 2021, all block decks were installed.

Symbolism

Some symbolic figures are associated with the bridge:

• the number 1915 in the name,
• the height of intersection point of main cable (318 m),
• and the opening date (18 March),

are all related to the date of the Ottoman naval victory, on 18 March 1915, during the naval operations in the Gallipoli campaign. Meanwhile, the length of the bridge's main span (2,023 metres) refers to the centennial of the Turkish Republic (1923–2023).

Gallery

File:Çanakkale 1915 Bridge construction March 2020 1.jpg|Western tower, March 2020 File:The Dardanelles Bridge 1915 Çanakkale Bridge 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü, Dardanelles strait, south of the Sea of Marmara, Turkey (51971973068).jpg|The bridge near completion File:1915 Çanakkale Bridge Commemorative Coin.jpg|1915 Çanakkale Bridge Commemorative Coin File:1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü 2.jpg|Lapseki toll booths of the bridge File:1915 Çanakkale Bridge 2.jpg File:1915 Çanakkale Bridge1.JPG File:Comparison of notable bridges SMIL.svg|A comparison of the side elevation of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge to the side elevations of some of the most notable bridges around the world on the same scale

Notes

References

References

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19. ERM. (December 2017). "Çevresel ve Sosyal Etki Değerlendirmesi (ÇSED) Raporu – 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü ve Malkara-Çanakkale Otoyolu Projesi". ERM.
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