The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Turkish: 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 Bosphorus Bridge (with Bosphorus Bridge being the First Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge the Second Bosphorus Bridge).
The bridge is located near the Black Sea entrance of the Bosphorus strait, between Garipçe in Sarıyer on the European side and Poyrazköy in Beykoz on the Asian side.
The foundation stone laying ceremony was held on 29 May 2013. The bridge was opened to traffic on 26 August 2016.
At 322 m (1,056 ft), the bridge is one of the tallest bridges in the world. The bridge is also one of the world’s widest suspension bridges, at 58.4 metres (192 ft) wide.
Project
The bridge is part of the projected 260 km (160 mi) 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-metre-wide (192 ft) bridge is 2,164 m (7,100 ft) in length with a main span of 1,408 m (4,619 ft).
The bridge toll is set to be 9.90 between the motorway exits Odayeri and Paşaköy. It is expected that at least 135,000 vehicles will use the bridge daily in each direction. Minister of Transport and Communication Binali Yıldırım stated that of the total area to be nationalised for the bridge project, 9.57% was private property, 75.24% was forested land, and the remaining 15.19% was already state-owned land.
In June 2018, in the course of the Turkish currency and debt crisis, Bloomberg reported that Astaldi, an Italian multinational construction company, was poised to sell its stake in the flagship Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge project for $467 million. The project had failed to meet projections, requiring Ankara to boost operators’ revenue from treasury coffers, and since early 2018 the partners in the joint venture sought restructuring of $2.3 billion of debt from creditors.
On July 30, 2018, China’s ICBC is authorized as the lead regulator to refinance the $2.7 billion current loan for the bridge.
Construction history
Plans for a third Bosphorus bridge were approved by the Ministry of Transportation in 2012. The construction of the project was awarded to the İçtaş-Astaldi consortium on 29 May 2012.
The construction of the bridge began officially with the foundation stone-laying in a ceremony held on 29 May 2013, the anniversary day of the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony on 26 August 2016 was attended by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Bosniak president of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegović, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and President of the self-declared state of Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akıncı.
Also, Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan) Shahbaz Sharif, Sandžak Bosniak Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Rasim Ljajić, First Vice Prime Minister of Georgia Dimitri Kumsishvili and high-ranking officials from Azerbaijan also attended the opening ceremony.
Speeches were delivered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge Data
- Country
- Turkey
- Location
- Bosphorus near the Black Sea entrance
- Official name
- Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü
- Other name(s)
- Third Bosphorus Bridge
- Cost
- 4.5 billion TRY(US $2.5 billion )
- Status
- In use
- Operator(s)
- İçtaş-Astaldi consortium
- Began
- May-29, 2013
- Opening date
- Aug-26, 2016
- Total Duration
- 4 years
- Building Height
- 322 m (1,056 ft)
- Length
- 2,164 m (7,100 ft)
- Width
- 58.4 m (192 ft)
- Longest span
- 1,408 m (4,619 ft)
- Design type
- Hybrid cable-stayed, suspension bridge
- Bridge type
- Cross sea bridge
- Crosses
- Bosphorus
- Road scale
- 8 lanes，1 double-track railway
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