Third bridge over Bosphorus sees small delay

ISTANBUL

AA photo

The third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait will be operational by June or July this year, a few months later than the scheduled opening date, due to the ongoing construction of connecting roads, Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım has said. 

“The construction of the bridge will finish in about May this year actually, but the construction of some roads is continuing,” the minister said in a televised interview with broadcaster NTV on Jan. 18. 

The main road and linking roads to the bridge total 225 kilometers in length, he said. “We decided to open the bridge after all these roads are finished,” he added. 

Yıldırım said in December 2015 that some 95 percent of the suspension bridge’s road had been laid and some 97 percent of its cables had been mounted. 

The groundbreaking ceremony for Istanbul’s $3-billion third bridge, named the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge for the Ottoman sultan who was famous for his conquests in the Eastern world, over the Bosphorus was held in May 2013. 

Some environmentalist groups had protested the plan, saying that it would destroy forested area in Istanbul’s north. 

The minister also said the first phase of a giant third airport in Istanbul will open in February 2018. 

“Then we have two more phases. It will be the largest airport in the world when finished,” he said.