Turkey earns over $318 mln in bridge, highway tolls

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

REUTERS photo

Turkey earned over 1.11 billion Turkish Liras ($318.2 million) from tolls collected on two bridges over Istanbul’s Bosphorus and linking roads in the first 11 months of 2016, the country’s highway directorate said Dec. 27.
      
The July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge, previously known as the Bosphorus Bridge, and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, both of which are over the Bosphorus connecting Europe to Asia, yielded around 268.3 million liras ($76.65 million), while the highways earned 845.35 million liras ($241.5 million), according to data released by the Turkish Highways Directorate.      
  
The figures indicate that around 386.3 million vehicles paid tolls in the period. Drivers in Turkey paid 4.75 liras ($1.36) for the bridge tolls, with higher fees for vehicles with more than two axles.        

This November, over 33.5 million vehicles used Turkey’s toll bridges and toll roads, paying a total of nearly 100 million liras ($28.5 million).      

Last year, 412.4 million vehicles used the toll bridges and roads in Turkey, paying 880.2 million liras ($290.4 million). The bridge toll at that time was 4.25 liras ($1.21) per passage.