Longest Suspension Bridge inaugurated in Turkey

Report by Aryaa Sinha

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the world’s longest suspension bridge (as on date) on 5th April, 2022.

The bridge is called “1915 Canakkale Bridge”.

What is a Suspension Bridge?

Suspension bridge is the bridge in which the middle section hangs between its two supports. It is ‘suspended’ between the 2 ends.

Before this, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, connecting two islands in Japan, was the longest suspension bridge in the world with the span of 1,991 metres. However the span of Canakkale Bridge is 2,023 metres – about 32 meters longer than the previous record.


The country of Turkey is mostly in Asia but part of it falls in Europe. The Dardanelles Strait is a thin band of water that separates these two parts. This bridge connects the European side of Turkey’s province of Canakkele with the town of Lapseki on Asian side over Dardanelles Strait. This bridge helps in shortening the trip time from one and a half hour to just 6 minutes.


ABOUT THE BRIDGE


The construction of the bridge was started in the year 2018 and was carried out under a public- private partnership model by a group of Turkish and South Korean companies at the cost of $2.7 billion.
Engineers have kept the configuration of the bridge to represent symbolic values.
# The number 1915 in the name of bridge is for the remembrance of World War I struggle in Dardanelles Strait in the year 1915.
# It’s towers are 318 meters high and the bridge opened on March 18(3/18) – these numbers mark the day that Turkey normally honours soldiers killed during the battles.
# The 2,023 metre span symbolises the 100th anniversary of the republic of Turkey foundation
# The bridge has been painted red and white to represent the Turkish Flag.
Image Credit: Official Twitter account of Turkey President.