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Canakkale 1915 Bridge, world’s longest suspension bridge, is ready to launch

18 March 2022 17:58 (UTC +04:00)

The Canakkale 1915 Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge spanning the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey’s largest metropolis Istanbul, is finally ready to launch and open to traffic, APA reports citing Hurriyet.

Following an official opening ceremony today, the Canakkale 1915 Bridge in the Dardanelles Strait will be recognized as the longest suspension bridge in the world, with its main span of 2,023 meters, surpassing the Akashi Kaikyö Bridge in Japan by 32 meters.

The bridge connecting the northwestern province of Canakkale's Gelibolu district on the European side and the Lapseki district on the Anatolian side is slated for inauguration by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at 4 p.m. on March 18, which also marks the 107th anniversary of the Canakkale Victory and Martyrs’ Day.

The construction of the bridge started on March 18, 2017, and today, after exactly five years of strenuous efforts of around 5,000 people who worked day and night to pull up the bridge, it will be finally open to traffic.

The bridge also has some encoded characteristics symbolizing some elements of Turkish history. The height of the bridge towers is 318 meters, indicating the “Day 18 of the third month.”

Above the towers, there are four monuments symbolizing huge cannonballs a Turkish soldier carried on his back amid the Gallipoli campaign in 1915.

The length of the bridge’s main span of the bridge is 2,023 meters, which is also a reference to the next year 2023, which marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.

Also, with a total height of 318 meters, the Çanakkale 1915 Bridge has become the second tallest bridge, after Istanbul’s Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, and the third tallest structure in the country.