Bridge maintenance to be started in Istanbul

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s Makyol and Japan’s IHI won the contract to repair and maintain the two bridges over the Bosphorus. DHA photo

Turkey’s Makyol and Japan’s IHI yesterday won the contract to repair and structurally maintain the two bridges over the Bosphorus by offering the lowest bid, 246.5 million liras, beating the Hyundai-Gülermak consortium, which bid 387.6 million liras.

After the contracts are finalized with the winners, the restructuring and repair works are planned to begin, lasting around 540 days. Large-scale maintenance and repair work will be carried out on the first bridge, the Bosphorus Bridge, while only small-scale repairs will be needed for the second bridge, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet (FSM) Bridge.

Around 236 cables will be renewed on the first bridge, which became operational in 1973, in order to strengthen it and thus allow it to carry heavier loads. There are also plans to install new humidity inhibitors to prevent the cables from rotting. The electricity system of the Bosphorus Bridge will also be renewed.

Apart from in compulsory situations, the Bosphorus Bridge will not be closed to vehicles during the daytime for the duration of the work. However, the lanes around the suspension cables will be closed to vehicles between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for safety reasons.

Three lanes on the FSM Bridge were closed to traffic in 2012 for maintenance, making long traffic jams in Istanbul a daily occurrence. The repair work was carried out 24-hours-a-day in three separate shifts, with all of the bridge’s eight lanes closed to traffic in pairs by turns.