Details emerge of 1st bridge over Turkey's Canal Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Details emerged on June 13 of the first bridge to be built over Turkey's Canal Istanbul, a planned mega-project connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, aiming to take pressure off the crowded Bosphorus Strait.

Foundations for the 1,618-meter (1 mile) bridge are expected to be laid in the last week of June with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to the Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.

The cable-stayed bridge will be built to provide a crossing around Sazlidere in the Edirne province as part of the Northern Marmara Highway (including the Third Bosporus Bridge) Project's Başakşehir-Bahçeşehir-Nakkaş section (including connecting roads).

The bridge, whose main span is set to be 440 meters (481.2 yards) long, will have 136 stay cables, 272 anchorages, and four lanes of traffic in both directions.

The bridge's 196-meter (643-foot) towers will be built with "diamond" geometry.

As part of the Canal Istanbul project, which was announced in 2011, a total of six new bridges will be built.

The project's total cost is projected at $15 billion, with the six bridges carrying a price tag of $1.4 billion.

Some half a million people will be employed in the construction work.

The construction of the canal, with a daily passage capacity of 185 vessels, is expected to be completed in 2025-2026.

The planned 45-kilometer (28-mile) canal will be built west of the city center on the European side of the Istanbul province.