The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge ( tr, 1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü), is a road

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

in the province of

Çanakkale Çanakkale (pronounced ), ancient ''Dardanellia'' (), is a city and seaport in Turkey in Çanakkale province on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the city is 195,439 (2021 estimate). Çanakkale is ...

in northwestern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Situated just south of the coastal towns of

Lapseki Lapseki (from Greek: Λάμψακος, ''Lampsakos'') is a town and district of Çanakkale Province, Turkey. In 2012 it had a population of 10,863. The mayor is Eyüp Yılmaz ( AKP). The district of Lapseki is known for its cherries, and a cher ...

and

Gelibolu Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli (from el, Καλλίπολις, ''Kallipolis'', "Beautiful City"), is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara Region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on t ...

, the bridge spans the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

, about south of the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...

. The bridge was officially opened by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

on 18 March 2022 after roughly five years of construction. The year "1915" in the official Turkish name honours an important Ottoman naval victory against the navies of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The bridge is the

longest suspension bridge in the world The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span (i.e. the length of suspended roadway between the bridge's towers). The length of main span is the most common method of comparing the sizes of suspen ...

—with a main

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan ester ...

of , the bridge surpasses the

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge The is a suspension bridge which links the city of Kobe on the Japanese island of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island. It is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, and crosses the busy and turbulent Akashi Strait (''Akashi Kaikyō'' in Japanese) ...

(1998) in Japan by . It is the centrepiece of the planned

Kınalı-Balıkesir Motorway The Kınalı-Tekirdağ-Çanakkale-Balıkesir Motorway ( tr, Kınalı-Tekirdağ-Çanakkale-Balıkesir Otoyolu) is a planned motorway, with an section between Malkara and Çanakkale open to traffic. When complete, the route will begin at Malkara, ...

, which will connect the O-3 and O-7 motorways in East Thrace to the O-5 motorway in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. The bridge is the first

fixed crossing A fixed link or fixed crossing is a persistent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses some combination of bridges, tunnels, and causeways and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries. A bridge–tu ...

over the Dardanelles and the sixth one across the Turkish Straits, after three bridges over the

Bosphorus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

and two tunnels under it.

Design and cost

The bridge's tender project was designed by

Tekfen Construction and Installation Tekfen Holding A.S. (Tekfen Group) is a Turkey-based holding company involved in engineering and construction, textile, food processing and other industrial sectors. History With foundations laid in 1956 by three civil engineers – Feyyaz Berk ...

and detailed designed by

COWI A/S COWI A/S is an international consulting group, specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, with headquarters in Lyngby, Denmark. It has been involved in more than 50,000 projects in 175 countries and has approximately 7,300 e ...

and PEC (Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants in South Korea, for cable design and approach bridge design packages only). Arup and

Aas-Jakobsen Dr. ing. A. Aas-Jakobsen AS, trading as Aas-Jakobsen, is a civil engineering consultant company specializing in structural engineering. The company is based in Oslo, Norway, and primarily works with bridges, roads, railways, offshore oil and buildi ...

participated in the project as Independent Design Verifier (IDV). The Administrator consultants are Tekfen and T-ingénierie. The total length of the bridge is and together with the approach viaducts the length reaches , which surpasses the total length of the

Osman Gazi Bridge The Osmangazi Bridge ( tr, Osman Gazi Köprüsü) is a suspension bridge spanning the Gulf of İzmit at its narrowest point, . The bridge links the Turkish city of Gebze to the Yalova Province and carries the O-5 motorway across the gulf. The ...

and its approach viaducts by , to become the longest bridge of any type in Turkey. The height of the bridge's two towers is , making it the tallest bridge in Turkey, surpassing

Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge ( tr, Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü) is a bridge for rail and motor vehicle transit over the Bosphorus strait, to the north of two existing suspension bridges in Istanbul, Turkey. It was initially named the Third Bos ...

, and the third tallest structure in the country. Internationally, the bridge is the second tallest bridge in the world, surpassing the

Pingtang Bridge The Pingtang Bridge is a bridge in Pingtang, Guizhou, China and carries the Pingtang Luodian Expressway over the deep Caodu River valley. With a height of , it is the third-tallest bridge in the world. It was opened to traffic on 30 December 2 ...

in China. The deck of the bridge is high and wide, with a maximum thickness of . The deck carries six lanes of motorway (three in each direction), together with two walkways on each side for maintenance. According to President Erdoğan, the bridge cost

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

2.5 billion ( $2.7 billion) 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 The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont ( ...

have existed since the 1990s. A bridge was proposed again in 2012, and in 2014, it was placed in the Turkish government's future transportation projects list. In September 2016, the government officially launched the bridge building project. Bids for the contract to construct the bridge were made in 2017. The contract was awarded to a consortium containing Turkish companies

Limak Holding Limak Holding A.S. is a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, cement, and tourism. Its assets include the Limak Cement and Limak Energy companies and the Limak Tourism Group. In 2012 it had around $260m revenue from c ...

and

Yapı Merkezi Yapı Merkezi Holding A.Ş. is a group company whose field of activity is primarily in the construction industry. It was founded in 1965 by Ersin Arioglu and Koksal Anadol in Istanbul. As the first and largest company of the Yapı Merkezi Group, ...

, alongside 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 The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

side (European coast). By 13 November 2021 all block decks were installed. The toll bridge opened for traffic on 18 March 2022, with a toll price of 200

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

(€13.60).

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 {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

of the Turkish Republic (1923–2023).

Gallery

File:Çanakkale 1915 Bridge construction March 2020 2.jpg, Western tower, March 2020 File:Çanakkale 1915 Bridge construction March 2020 1.jpg, View from European side to Asian side, March 2020 File:Çanakkale 1915 Bridge construction June 2021 1.jpg 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:Çanakkale 1915 Bridge.webm, A video from the bridge (2022) File:1915 Çanakkale Bridge Commemorative Coin.jpg, 1915 Çanakkale Bridge Commemorative Coin

Comparison of notable bridges

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteÇanakkale 1915 Bridge
at

Daelim Daelim Industrial was established in 1939, and its E&C (Engineering & Construction) and Petrochemical Groups are the main lead of the Daelim Business Conglomerate (Chaebol). The fields covered by Daelim Industrial as one of the top EPC Company ...

web site {{Supertall 2022 establishments in Turkey Bridges completed in 2022 Buildings and structures in Çanakkale Province Dardanelles Gallipoli Peninsula Gelibolu District Lapseki District Road bridges in Turkey Suspension bridges in Turkey Toll bridges in Turkey Transcontinental crossings Transport in Çanakkale Province