Bosphorus narrowing with road constructions

Fatma AKSU - ISTANBUL

This map shows a number of completed and ongoing land reclamation projects on the Bosphorus.

The Bosphorus has become eight meters narrower with the latest land reclamation project.

The latest road construction in Istanbul's Emirgan neighhorhood filled 5,600-square-meter of sea with concrete. 

With the land reclamation project started in 2014, the distance between Emirgan in Istanbul's European side and the Asian neighborhood of Kanlıca has been shortened eight meters. It is around 900 meters now.

The first modern land reclamation project on the Bosphorus was focused on Emirgan, again, in 1956, when a coastal road to Sarıyer neighborhood was built. In 1988, three more coastal road projects narrowed the Bosphorus further, up to 22 meters.

The Bosphorus continued to shrink in the 2000s during the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In 2011, extensive platforms for yachts were set up on İstinye and Tarabya coves, while various projects linked to the ongoing construction of the third bridge on the Bosphorus changed the landscape of the strait's northern part.

More land reclamation projects that would affect the Bosphorus have already been approved, including a comprehensive one in the Asian neighborhood of Üsküdar.

More indented European coast of the Bosphorus is 55 kilometers long, while the Asian one is only 35 kilometers. The part where both sides come closest is between Rumelihisarı in Europe and Anadoluhisarı in Asia, which is 698 meters.