GARIPCE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey opened one of the world’s biggest suspension bridges on Friday, the latest megaproject in a $200 billion building spree that President Tayyip Erdogan hopes will secure his place in history.

People wave Turkish flags during the opening ceremony of newly built Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge, the third bridge over the Bosphorus linking the city's European and Asian sides, in Istanbul, Turkey, August 26, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

The bridge creates a new link across the Bosphorus Strait, which divides Asia and Europe. It is built in the style of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and boasts pylons higher than the Eiffel Tower. It is 1.4 km (0.9 mile) long and 59 meters wide, with eight vehicle lanes and two high-speed rail lines.

“When man dies, he leaves behind a monument,” Erdogan told a crowd of thousands waving Turkish flags at the opening ceremony on the shores of the Bosphorus next to the bridge.

He is seeking to use such projects to drive economic growth and secure a place as Turkey’s most significant leader since the modern republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

“Be proud of your power, Turkey,” said a TV advert before the opening of the $3 billion Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge on the edge of Istanbul. It is named after a 16th-century Ottoman ruler.

Erdogan’s infrastructure drive is transforming Europe’s biggest city, which straddles the Bosphorus Strait. In a little more than a decade, Istanbul’s skyline has soared, new highways have been built, and the length of the metro tripled.

But Turkey’s stellar economic growth has slowed since 2011 and it could face difficulties attracting investment following an attempted coup last month, which led to a purge by the government that has seen tens of thousands of people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education being detained, suspended or placed under investigation.

The country has also been hit by attacks this summer by Islamic State on a wedding party and Istanbul airport, while the Turkish army’s incursion this week in Syria to curb jihadist and Kurdish forces has unsettled nerves.

But Erdogan - whose government announced a $200 billion, decade-long infrastructure investment plan three years ago - has vowed the months of turmoil would not stop planned megaprojects.

The Yavuz Sultan Selim, which runs from the Garipce area on Istanbul’s European side to the region of Poyrazkoy on the Asian side, is the third bridge to span the Bosphorus Strait and can withstand winds of 300 km an hour. It ranks among the world’s biggest suspension bridges, in terms of width of deck, height of pylons as well as length of span.

It has been built by Italy’s Astaldi and Istanbul-based IC Ictas which will jointly operate it for about a decade.

Officials say the bridge will ease congestion in a city of 14 million people, reduce fuel costs and save workers time.

Environmentalists say the project threatens Istanbul’s last forestland and will contaminate water supplies. Some economists warn the costs of such large-scale building is unsustainable.

BRIDGE ‘IS SYMBOL’

Turkey closed deals to secure $45 billion in private infrastructure investment last year, absorbing 40 percent of the global total, according to the World Bank.

Other planned megaprojects include the world’s biggest airport in Istanbul and a huge canal that would render a large chunk of the city an island.

Such undertakings trumpet Turkey’s regional clout and drive the economy, Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan told Reuters near the bridge site at Garipce. Construction accounts for 6 percent of output and employs 2 million people.

“Turkey, by virtue of its geography, bridges Asia and Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus, but to benefit from this position, we need arteries and corridors,” he told Reuters. “There is money to be made by easing transportation between Europe and Asia, and this is why we are doing these projects.”

As Arslan spoke, workers scaled the bridge’s gleaming white steel cables. Some 300 meters below, crude tankers rumbled north through the Bosphorus, one of the world’s busiest oil transit points, connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Each day, 650 new cars hit Istanbul’s roads, Arslan said, making it the word’s third-most congested city and increasing travel times by 50 percent, according to TomTom Traffic Index.

The bridge “is a symbol and much like Turkey a gateway”, said Paolo Astaldi, chairman of Astaldi which owns a third of the joint venture. “It not only alleviates traffic in Istanbul, it speeds movement of goods across Turkey and, as Syria stabilizes, the importance of the link will increase.”

Under a build-operate-transfer model, the consortium receives the toll crossing fees for vehicles using the hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge - $3 for cars and $15 for trucks. The government guarantees the firms will receive, as a minimum, the toll income from 135,000 cars a day, though the actual number expected to use the bridge is expected to be higher.

Planned Turkish megaprojects, if realized, may add 10 to 15 percentage points in the next five years to the debt-to-GDP ratio, now 33 percent due to a wide current-account deficit, said Atilla Yesilada, an analyst at Global Source Partners.

“You’re trying to stimulate sagging growth with a surge in infrastructure, but you have a savings problem. There comes a point when the international community won’t lend to you.”

ISTANBUL’S ‘LUNGS’

The bridge is part of a network of 215 km of transit roads for freight to bypass Istanbul, Arslan said, reiterating a government pledge to protect the area from housing development.

Yet realtors in nearby fishing and farming villages report a fourfold rise in land prices, and activists in the Northern Forests Defence campaign group believe the real aim is to erect new suburbs.

“Transit makes up 3 percent of total traffic, so it won’t mitigate traffic jams,” said Cihan Baysal of the Northern Forests Defence. “This opens up hitherto pristine lands to more construction projects, because Turkey’s economy depends on construction ... which paradoxically exacerbates traffic jams.”

The new roads seared gashes through forestland. Arslan said that while 380,000 trees were felled, 2.5 million were planted.

“These forests are Istanbul’s lungs,” said Baysal, pointing to a court ruling the bridge lacked an environmental report.

Among other concerns are the fate of what media reports said were a trove of unexcavated antiquities in the construction area, including Paleolithic remains and a Byzantine jail.

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The two older Bosphorus Strait bridges, crossed by 150 million vehicles a year, sparked protests in 1973 and 1988; now their silhouettes define the skyline.

Even the third bridge’s name stirred controversy when it was announced at a 2013 ground-breaking ceremony. Selim I, known as Selim the Grim, expanded the Ottoman Empire to dominate the Middle East.

Many members of Turkey’s Alevi community, whose faith draws from Shi’ite, Sufi and Anatolian traditions, say Selim slaughtered tens of thousands of their forebears. They unsuccessfully lobbied to change the bridge’s name. </s> ANKARA: A third bridge linking the European and Asian sides of Istanbul will be opened Friday with a ceremony to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, built above the northern Bosphorus, was named after 16th century Ottoman Sultan Selim I, whose rule marked the expansion of the burgeoning world power in the Middle East.

The ceremony will also be attended by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Mustafa Akinci, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as well as other senior officials from Pakistan, Georgia and Serbia.

According to Turkish officials, it is estimated that the “longest suspension bridge to have a railway system” in the world will save $1.75 billion annually in terms of cutting travel times and reducing energy costs.

The bridge is also expected to provide a solution to the city’s air pollution as well as traffic congestion, the officials claimed.

Turkey’s government has guaranteed operators that 135,000 automobiles will use the bridge each day. The fee for automobiles going from the European to the Asian side will be 9.90 Turkish liras ($3.40).There will be no charge for passage from the Asian to the European side.

The bridge is 1.4 kilometers (0.9 mile) long, 59 meters wide and boasts eight road lanes as well as two rail lines. It has been built as a part of the Northern Marmara Motorway Project, which has been planned in three phases. The first phase of the project has been completed by the private sector, which invested around $3 billion.

The other two phases will involve the construction of highways and link roads amounting to a total length of 257 km. These are expected to be completed and available for public use in 2018. </s> Istanbul to inaugurate third bridge linking Europe with Asia

ISTANBUL (AP) — Istanbul is inaugurating the third bridge spanning the Bosphorus Strait dividing the continents of Europe and Asia, in a ceremony to be attended by Turkish leadership and representatives of several nations.

Turkey's president and prime minister will attend Friday's ceremony, along with dignitaries from Bahrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Pakistan, Georgia and northern Cyprus.

The $3 billion bridge is named after the 16th-century Ottoman sultan, Selim, and is touted as the world's widest suspension bridge, featuring 10 lanes including two rail lines and spanning over 1,400 meters. </s> A massive tanker has crashed into an historic mansion on the shores of Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait after its steering equipment became locked, according to Turkish state media, briefly suspending the traffic in the strait in both directions.

Towboats and coastguard vessels were sent to the area after the crash on Saturday afternoon and the Maltese-flagged tanker Vitaspirit was pulled back from the crash site to be brought to shore, state-run Anadolu Agency said.

There were no casualties in the collision, according to Turkish media.

The tanker was stranded under the Second Bosphorus Bridge, near Anatolian Fortress, in Istanbul's Asian part, Anadolu said, adding that the hit damaged the shore and the mansion.

The bridge, also known as Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, is one of the three crossings between Istanbul's Asian and European sides divided by Bosphorus.

The Istanbul governorate said that the ship was anchored to stop, but it still hit the shore at 3:30pm local time (12:30 GMT).

Footage from the crash showed extensive damage to the historic seaside mansion located under the bridge.

The building's roof and upper floors collapsed and videos showed the basement slumping into the water.

The Hekimbasi Salih Efendi Mansion has stood on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait since the 18th century and is used to host weddings and concerts, according to the mansion's website.

Such waterside mansions are among the most historic and expensive properties on the Bosphorus.

The Deniz Haber maritime news agency said that 225-metre Vitaspirit was heading from Egypt to Ukraine.

The Bosphorus is one of the world's most important choke points for maritime oil transports, with more than three percent of global supply - mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea - passing through the 27-kilometre waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

It is also used by vessels carrying grain from Russia and Kazakhstan to international markets. </s> ANKARA: A tanker crashed into a historic mansion on the shores of Istanbul's Bosphorus on Saturday after its steering equipment became locked, broadcaster CNN Turk said, adding that traffic in the strait had been suspended in both directions.

Towboats and coast guard vessels were sent to the area after the crash and the "Vitaspirit" tanker, carrying a Maltese flag, was pulled back from the crash site and brought to shore, CNN Turk said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but footage from the crash showed extensive damage to the historic seaside mansion located under the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge, one of the three crossings between Istanbul's Asian and European sides.

The Hekimbasi Salih Efendi Mansion has stood on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait since the 18th century and is used to host weddings and concerts, according to the mansion's website.

The Bosphorus is one of the world's most important choke points for maritime oil transports, with more than 3 percent of global supply - mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea - passing through the 17-mile waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

It is also used by vessels carrying grain from Russia and Kazakhstan to international markets. </s> Istanbul – A massive bulk cargo ship collided on Saturday into a waterfront mansion worth millions on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait.

 

 Authorities had to close the key shipping route in both directions according to reports.

A technical failure in the rudder or steering system was seen as the likely cause for the ship losing control, TRT reported.

No one was hurt in the incident.

The Maltese-flagged Vitaspirit ship was towed away from the crash site, the 18th century Hekimbasi Salih Efendi mansion, located on the Asian side of the Turkish metropolis, under the second of the three bridges spanning the strait.

The mansion, with its pink facade, was badly damaged in the incident, with the upper floors almost entirely destroyed.

The building had once been the home of an Ottoman-era nobleman and is now used for hosting events, including weddings.

Media outlets in Turkey, including Sozcu newspaper, speculated the value of the building could be more than 85 million dollars.

The ship, coming in at some 225 metres in length and 32 metres wide, had set off from Egypt and was due to dock in Ukraine, according to the private Dogan news agency.

The Bosphorus strait connects the Black Sea and Marmara Sea and is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. (dpa/NAN) </s> The Europabrücke has been dubbed the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge! The ribbon-thin bridge opened in a town called Zermatt in Switzerland. The bridge is 85m high and roughly 500m long.

According to the Zermatt Tourist Board, it is the world’s longest although a 405m bridge in Reutte, Austria is 110m above the ground.

The bridge weighs eight tonnes due to the cables and is specially equipped to prevent the bridge from swinging.

Would you put this on your bucket list? </s> Share this article with Google Plus

A 225-metre-long ship has crashed into a historic mansion in Istanbul after its rudder failed.

The Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi mansion was built in the 18th century and regularly hosts weddings and concerts.

It was severely damaged in the collision, with splinted wood and holes in the walls clearly visible from the river.

Turkey’s Bosporus Strait was closed to boats for several hours yesterday afternoon, the Daily Sabah reported.

The vessel, called The Vitaspirit, had a Maltese flag and was heading to Saudi Arabia from Russia.

No environmental threats have been reported from the accident and no-one was injured during the crash.

Every year over 50,000 vessels pass through the Bosporus, an S-shaped channel with sharp turns and changing currents, and it has been an accident black spot for a century.

A Romanian tanker and a Greek freighter collided and exploded in November 1979, killing 42 crew members aboard the Romanian tanker.

In 2003, a Georgian-flagged vessel ran aground resulting in a spill of 480 tons of oil.

MORE: Police ‘increasingly concerned to find’ missing man, 79, who has dementia

MORE: ‘For sale’ shed that’s about to fall off cliff probably isn’t a bargain </s> The longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world was officially opened in Switzerland today, measuring in at just under half-a-kilometre long.



The steel bridge, which connects two sections of a walking trail between Grächen and Zermatt in the south of the country, was unveiled after a construction period of just ten weeks.



At 494 metres long, it overtakes the “Titan-RT” bridge in Germany as the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge. And at a narrow 65cm wide, the bridge stretches like a thin wire across the sheer valley floor.



Built by local company swissrope/Lauber Seilbahnen, the bridge completes a section of the Europaweg trail, a high-altitude walking route offering panoramas of some of Switzerland’s highest peaks, including the Dom (4,545m) and the Matterhorn.



In a press release, the Zermatt Tourism body promised “thrills above the precipice.” This might be so; but it is not for the faint-hearted. With a maximum height of 85 metres above the valley, the bridge is only “for hikers with no fear of heights,” they said.
Turkey opens the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in Istanbul, one of the world's biggest suspension bridges.