Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge

Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü

Bridge under construction, February 2014
Coordinates 41°12′10″N 29°06′42″E / 41.20291°N 29.11162°ECoordinates: 41°12′10″N 29°06′42″E / 41.20291°N 29.11162°E
Carries Four motorway lanes () and one railway line in each direction
Crosses Bosphorus
Locale Istanbul
Official name Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
Other name(s) Third Bosphorus Bridge
Maintained by Turkey İçtaş
Italy Astaldi
Characteristics
Design Hybrid Cable-Stayed, Suspension bridge
Total length 2,164 m (7,100 ft)[1]
Width 58.4 m (192 ft)[1]
Height 321.9 m (1,056 ft)[1]
Longest span 1,408 m (4,619 ft)[1]
History
Designer Michel Virlogeux
Jean-François Klein
Construction begin 2013
Construction cost 4.5 billion
Opened End 2015
Statistics
Toll $3.00
Third Bosphorus Bridge
Location of Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in Turkey

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Turkish: Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü), initially named the Third Bosphorus Bridge, is a project to construct a bridge for rail and motor vehicle transit over the Bosphorus, north of two existing bridges in Istanbul, Turkey.

The bridge will be situated between Garipçe in Sarıyer on the European side and Poyrazköy in Beykoz on the Asian side.[2] The foundation stone laying ceremony was held on May 29, 2013.[3][4][5][6]

Project

The bridge is part of the projected 260 km (160 mi) long Northern Marmara Motorway (Turkish: Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu), which will bypass urban areas of Istanbul in the north connecting Kınalı, Silivri in the west and Paşaköy, Hendek in the east. The 58.4 m (192 ft) wide bridge will be 2,164 m (7,100 ft) in length with a main span of 1,408 m (4,619 ft).[6][7] The main span of the bridge will be 8th longest among suspension bridges in the world.

Designed by French engineer Michel Virlogeux and by Jean-François Klein from T-ingénierie (a Geneva-based company) the bridge will be a combined road-rail bridge. It will carry four motorway lanes and one railway line in each direction.[6] The construction is being carried out by a consortium of the Turkish company İçtaş and the Italian company Astaldi that won the bid on May 30, 2012. The budgeted cost of the bridge's construction is 4.5 billion (approximately US$2.5 billion as of March 2013). The construction was originally expected to be completed in 36 months with the opening date scheduled for the end of 2015.[8][9][10] On 29 May 2013 Prime Minister Erdoğan directed the construction management team to finish the construction within 24 months, and projected an opening date for May 29, 2015.[6]

When completed, the Third Bosphorus Bridge will be the longest combined motorway/railway bridge of the world and the world's eighth longest suspension bridge.[5] The bridge toll is set to be US$3.00 (approximately 6.70 as of February 2014) between the motorway exits Odayeri and Paşaköy.[6] It is expected that at least 135,000 vehicles will use the bridge daily in each direction.[11] Minister of Transport and Communication Binali Yıldırım stated that of the total area to be socialized for the bridge project 9.57% is currently private property, 75.24% is forested land, and the remaining 15.19% is already state-owned land.[11]

Construction history

Plans for a third Bosphorous bridge were approved by the Ministry of Transportation in 2012. The construction of the project was awarded to the İçtaş-Astaldi consortium on May 29, 2012.[12]

The construction of the bridge began officially with the foundation stone laying in a ceremony held on May 29, 2013, the anniversary day of the conquest of Costantinople in 1453. The ceremony was attended by State President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and numerous high-ranked officials. Erdoğan directed the construction management team to complete construction within 24 months, and set the opening date for May 29, 2015.[6]

Work was halted in July 2013 when it became evident that the site was mislocated- but only after the removal of thousands of trees. The action, announced in paperwork filed for a plan change written by State Highways Directorate Director-General Mehmet Cahit Turhan on June 11, 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". Both the ministry and the construction company have denied any change to construction site location.[13]

Land prices in the northern, less urbanized areas on both sides of the Bosphorus are already soaring in expectation of an urbanization boom thanks to the new cross-water connection, according to Ekumenopolis, a documentary film of 2010 about the area.[14] The efficacy of the proclaimed goal of easing traffic congestion has been challenged, claiming that the project is little more than a contrivance to open for development lands that had been long protected by law.[15] The green areas and wetlands in question, producing most of the drinking water for the city, are considered by many to be essential for Istanbul's ecological and economic sustainability, and a possible pollution of the groundwater would provoke the collapse of the city.[16] In 1995, then mayor of Istanbul, Erdogan declared that a third bridge would be “murder would mean the murder of the city".[15][17][18]

Naming

9th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Selim I (1470–1520)

The name of the bridge was announced by President Abdullah Gül at the ground-breaking ceremony as the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, in honor 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.[6]

The choice of name for the bridge has led to protests by Alevis in Turkey because of the role of Sultan Selim I, nicknamed "the Grim" due to his severity, in the Ottoman persecution of Alevis.[19] After the Şahkulu Rebellion (1511) in Anatolia, and the Battle of Chaldiran (1514) in northwestern Iran, during which the Qizilbash 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 Qizilbash, whom he considered traitors and heretics (see also Ottoman–Safavid relations and Ottoman–Persian Wars).[20]

Masum Türker, leader of the Democratic Left Party, suggested that given Selim's role in establishing the Sunni character of the Ottoman Empire, the naming of the bridge (announced with both President Gül and Prime Minister Erdoğan present) was especially significant, claiming that it was "a declaration of [the state] taking sides [in the Sunni-Shia conflict in the Middle East] ... an outright challenge [by Turkey] on Iran, Iraq and Syria". He argued that the name would be divisive within Turkey, upsetting not only the Alevis but also the secular non-Alevis, therefore it will have to be changed sooner or later.[21]

Accident at construction site

On April 5, 2014 at about 21:00 local time, a fatal accident occurred during the construction works at the link road to the bridge on the Asian side of the Bosphorus near Çavuşbaşı, Beykoz. Three workers were killed and another one was injured by falling from a collapsed 50 m (160 ft)-high scaffolding while concrete was poured at a viaduct.[22][23]

Gallery

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu" (PDF) (in Turkish). KGM. p. 22. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Turkey Unveils Route for Istanbul's Third Bridge". Anatolian Agency. 29 April 2010.
  3. ↑ Bayer, Yaşar (2013-03-28). "İşte 3'üncü köprünün ayak izleri". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  4. ↑ "3. Köprü İnşaatından İlk Görüntüler: Denize Dolgu Yapılmış, Ağaçlar Kesilmiş". Başka (in Turkish). 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "İşte 3. köprü güzergahı". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2010-04-29. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü "3. köprünün ismi Yavuz Sultan Selim". NTV-MSNBC (in Turkish). 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  7. ↑ Official website
  8. ↑ "İçtaş-Astaldi win third Bosphorus bridge bid". Hürriyet Daily News. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  9. ↑ "3. Köprü Nereye Yapılacak, Ne Zaman Bitecek". Bir Saniye (in Turkish). 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  10. ↑ "İşte 3. Boğaz Köprüsü". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "3. köprüden geçiş ücretleri belli oldu". Sabah (in Turkish). 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  12. ↑ CNN Türk: 3. Köprü ihalesini İçtaş-Astaldi kazandı
  13. ↑ http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/controversy-over-third-bosphorus-bridges-route-change.aspx?pageID=238&nid=50606
  14. ↑ Part of the film available on YouTube, accessed 18 September 2011.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/the-bridge-to-nowhere-in-istanbul/?_r=0
  16. ↑ Gürsoy & Hüküm (2006), Interview with the president of Istanbul's Architect association
  17. ↑ http://thebackbencher.co.uk/its-still-a-bridge-too-far-pt2/
  18. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/08/bosphorus-bridge-row-istanbul-turkey
  19. ↑ Christiane Schlötzer: Osmanische Träume. Bauprojekte in der Türkei. Süddeutsche.de vom 3. Juni 2013.
  20. ↑ Kohn, George C. (2007). Dictionary of Wars. Infobase Publishing. p. 385. ISBN 0-8160-6577-2.
  21. ↑ haberler.com, 5 June 2013, "DSP Leader: Turkey Needs To Change Name Of 3Rd Bosporus Bridge"
  22. ↑ Kaya, Hakan (2014-04-06). "3. Köprü inşaatında facia". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  23. ↑ "Japanese engineer commits suicide after İzmit bridge cable snaps". Today's Zaman. 2015-03-23. Retrieved 2015-03-25.

Sources