Heavy-duty vehicles to bypass Istanbul city center

ISTANBUL

With measures to reduce the traffic density in Istanbul, vehicles with heavy tonnage capacity will no longer be allowed to run on the two major highways, D-100 and TEM highways, straddling the city’s European and Asian side.

In line with the decision taken by the Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME), vehicles with heavy-duty vehicles that make intercontinental freight transport and pass through Istanbul province will use the Northern Marmara Highway instead of the D-100 and TEM highways and its connection roads.

As a result of the decision referring to the Road Freight Transport Directive, logistics-oriented heavy-duty vehicles will cross the continent without getting into the city center of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest metropolis with four and a half million registered vehicles.

According to a study, Istanbul is among the world’s top five cities most impacted by traffic congestion.

An average Istanbul driver lost 153 hours in congestion in 2019, the eighth-highest lost time in the world, according to a study by transportation analytics firm INRIX.