Istanbul-Izmir Road | Enriching wildlife and protecting the environment

Istanbul-Izmir Road | Enriching wildlife and protecting the environment

By implementing the Istanbul-Izmir project, Turkey is trying to preserve and enrich wildlife and protect the environment, through biodiversity studies, building environmentally friendly tunnels and bridges, and planting more than 6.7 million seedlings along the way.

Istanbul-Izmir road: enriching wildlife and protecting the environment

According to information issued by the General Directorate of Highways, the 426-km-long Istanbul-Izmir road has been implemented in a "build, operate and transfer" model, and will contribute to reducing the travel time between the two cities from five and a half hours to about three and a half hours.

In a related context, the Turkish government has paid special attention to preserving green spaces and trees, during the construction of infrastructure structures, tunnels, and bridges. For this purpose, 38 bridges with a total length of 21,571 meters were built, and 3 tunnels with a length of 6,445 meters on the highway.

Creating environmental bridges to wildlife

The company executing highway construction pays great attention to protecting the wildlife corridors along the highway, considering these lanes identified in the scope of biodiversity studies, and environmentally friendly tunnels and bridges have been built to prevent a negative impact on wildlife in the area.

Not to mention, environmentally friendly bridges were built in Balıkesir and Manisa states, and projects were carried out to protect wildlife, increase green spaces, ensure the continuity of species, and use road fences in a way that does not affect the ecosystem.

Osmangazi Bridge

By a decision issued by the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, the Herceg Lagogo area in the Altin Ufa region of the Turkish state of Yalova, one of the main areas in Turkey, has been placed under environmental protection, as this area is home to 236 species of birds, especially in the autumn and winter seasons, containing a lake of 152 hectares.

Therefore, the road connected to the Osmangazi Bridge line was designed in the form of an arc, passing away from the lake in order not to harm its nature, and to protect the ecological balance.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, the General Manager of the Highway Construction and Operation Company, Mr. Khalil Umartak, confirmed that with the change of the route line of the road connecting to Osmangazi Bridge, the costs of building the road increased by 300 million Turkish liras, in order to protect the normal life in the Herceg-Lagogo region.

Omurtak indicated that issues related to the preservation of the environment and nature receive great attention at every stage of the road construction, as a preliminary analysis was conducted to understand the environmental and social impact of the project on its surroundings, in line with international standards.

Omurtak added that the implementation of all construction work on the highway was carried out with the utmost attention to preserving environmental and natural life, by creating a barrier to prevent the spread of sound pollution (noise) along the highway through planting trees, especially in areas close to Lake Herceg.

Edited by Imtilak Real Estate ©

Reference: TRT Arabi

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