Turkey has inaugurated the world's longest suspension bridge today, which is called the 1915 Canakkale Bridge. It connects Europe to Asia over the Dardanelles straight, thus shortening the trip time from Gelibolu to Lapseki from one and a half hours to just six minutes.
The bridge was named after a famous battle that the Turkish army won back in WWI, which is why the year 1915 is in the name of the bridge, while Canakkale is the name of the European side of a Northwestern province in Turkey.
The construction of the bridge was handled by a consortium of Turkish and South Korean companies, and the two countries plan to strengthen their bonds and economic collaboration.
In case you wanted some figures, we are writing about a bridge that cost EUR 2.5 billion ($ 2.7 billion). We should note that the towers of the bridge are 318 meters high, while the total length of the bridge is 4.6 kilometers (2.85 miles).
According to official estimates, the bridge will save the country approximately 415 million euros (ca. $458 million) per year in fuel consumption and the resulting carbon emissions, which would have been generated by the ferries crossing the straight each day.
As the country's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, noted, "Turkey has overtaken Japan, which had the longest bridge in the world in terms of the midspan, and has taken the first place."
The midspan in question refers to the distance between the "towers" of the bridge, which sit at 2,023 meters (6,637 feet). In case you were wondering, yes, that is a long midsection, and it came with numerous engineering challenges.
To keep things celebratory, the inauguration coincided with the 107th anniversary of Turkey's naval victory in WWI that led to the name of the bridge, AP noted. The inauguration event was also graced by the presence of South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, who stated that "the 1915 Canakkale Bridge will leave this history of collision and conflict behind, and will be a bridge between East and West, starting a new era of peace and prosperity."
The bridge is positioned over the Dardanelles, which connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara. Because of its position and its importance, the bridge had to be tall so that ships could clear it without issues, and the midspan also had to be this long so that multiple ships could navigate it at the same time.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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