Istanbul-Izmir Highway Shortens the Journey from Nine to Three and a Half Hours

Istanbul-Izmir Highway Shortens the Journey from Nine to Three and a Half Hours

"Gebze-Orhan Gazi-Izmir" highway project, which shortens the travel time between Istanbul and Izmir from 9 to 3 hours, is nearing completion," the Anatolia group said.

According to the General Directorate of Highway and the Bursa Directorate of the Regional Public-Private Partnership, the new highway will also provide an estimated $ 650 million annually.

The authorities also confirmed that most of the work on the road, including the Izmit bridge and access roads, was completed by the six consortium Otoyol A.?, and the highway is being built under the BOT model.

The project extends 384 km of highway and 49 km of the access road, 98 km of highway and 16 km of access road have already been opened.

The project includes a 40 km route linking Altinova and Gimlik, another 12.6 km between Gebze and Altinova (including the Osman Ghazi Bridge), another 20 km between the Kemal Pasha and Izmir intersection, and a 25 km long bridge between Gimlik and Bursa.

At the end of April o the last year 2017, the Osman Ghazi Bridge, which is the centerpiece of the project, was opened. Thanks to its main length of 2,000 and 550 meters, the bridge is the fourth biggest bridge in the world. Thanks to its construction, the duration of the driving around the coast of Izmit has been reduced from 70 to 6 minutes.

The project includes a total of 30 bridges, three tunnels, and twenty kiosks to pay highway tolls, six highway maintenance centers and three tunnel maintenance centers.

It is worth mentioning that the Osman Ghazi Bridge has become the most economical option for travelling between Gebze and Altinova, with respect to fuel, consumption, time, and environmental impacts.

Traffic congestion on the roads of Gebze-Izmit and Altinova-Yelova-Bursa has also decreased significantly, as have negative environmental impacts, including pollution from gas emissions and from traffic congestion. Once the highways are fully opened, the positive effects will rise.

Source: TurkPress