For every mega project completed that paves the way for İstanbul to become a world metropolis, a new one is added to the list. The hundred-year dream that is Marmaray has come to life...The Third Bridge, the Third Airport, and the Eurasia Tunnel are progressing swiftly. The last mega project "The Big İstanbul Tunnel" will be the pride of Turkey. Turkey has taken its place on the global agenda with several large-scale projects. Some of these projects, the total value of which is TRY 260 billion, have been completed and put in use; some are under construction and some are waiting to be tendered. The Marmaray project has actualized a hundred-year-old dream and is used by thousands of passengers each day. High Speed Train Projects, which promoted Turkey in transportation, have been put into use consecutively. The construction processes of the third airport, which will make Istanbul the transportation center of not only the region but also Europe and the Middle East, the Third Bosphorus Bridge which will be the third necklace across the Bosphorus; the Eurasia Tunnel, the Istanbul-Izmir Highway, Kars- Baku-Tbilisi Railway are in progress. “The Big Istanbul Tunnel” project has been added to these giant projects and is welcomed warmly and with great excitement not only in Istanbul but also in Turkey and in the world. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructed that work on the Kanal Istanbul Project which will crown all these projects be accelerated and work has begun with the participation of respective parties. THE BIG ISTANBUL TUNNEL The “Three-storey Istanbul Metro and Highway Bosphorus Passage” Project is called “The Big Istanbul Tunnel” is the latest in a line of mega projects in Turkey to be added to the list. It will be constructed between Sögütlüçesme and Incirli. A 3-storey tunnel will cover the 16.5 km of the project. The 6.5 km of the tunnel will pass under the Bosphorus between Küçüksu and Gayrettepe, and this route was considered the optimum from six options. The Big Istanbul Tunnel Project will pass through the areas of Besiktas, Sisli, Kagıthane, Beyoglu, Eyüp, Fatih, Zeytinburnu, Bakırköy and Güngören on the European side; and the areas of Üsküdar, Ümraniye and Kadıköy on the Asian side. The project will include 2 highways and 1 railway and the length of the Sögütlüçesme- Altunizade-Gayrettepe-Sütlüce-Cevizlibag- Incirli route will be 31.5 km in total. With the completion of the project, travel time between Hasdal and Ümraniye will be reduced to 14 minutes. Travel time between Incirli and Sögütlüçesme will be 40 minutes. The project will connect 3 bridges and 9 metro networks and will be put into service within 5 years. EURASIA TUNNEL The Eurasia Tunnel (Istanbul Strait Road Tube Crossing Project) the foundation of which was laid on February 26, 2011, will connect the Asian and European sides with a highway tunnel passing under the seabed. The Eurasia Tunnel will be put into service at the Kazlıçesme-Göztepe line and cover a total of 14.6 km. With the completion of the project, which will be constructed between Cankurtaran coast and Haydarpasa, travel time between Kazlıçesme and Göztepe is expected to decrease up to 15 minutes from 100 minutes. In order to provide alternative and fast highway passage on the Istanbul Strait, the project being constructed at 1.8 km south of Marmaray will provide a more balanced and fast inner-city transportation to Istanbul by sharing the traffic load of the current two bridges. A total of 130 thousand vehicles will be able to use the Eurasia Tunnel which is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. MARMARAY The 76 km long Marmaray, which connects the railway lines at Europe and Asia sites with a tube tunnel passing underneath the Istanbul Strait, was first designed during the reign of Sultan Adbülhamid II. The project phase of Marmaray was completed in 1998 and its construction began in 2004. However, archaeological remains from the Byzantium Empire that were found at the point where the Bosphorus passage reaches the shore on the European side and archaeological studies conducted in the Üsküdar, Sirkeci and Yenikapı areas caused the works to be delayed for around four years. The 14 km Marmaray section which lies between Ayrılıkçesme and Kazlıçesme was put into service on October 29, 2013. Marmaray transported 136 thousand passengers daily the first year since it was opened and it is expected that it will transport nearly one million passengers when the Gebze-Halkalı section is put into use. The Halkalı-Kazlıçesme and Ayrılıkçesmesi-Gebze lines, which constitute the second phase of Marmaray and which consist of 5 stations. 3 of which are underground, are temporarily suspended. THE THIRD AIRPORT On June 7, 2014, construction works began for the airport, which will be built between the villages of Yeniköy and Akpınar on the Black Sea coast and on the European side of Istanbul and which will have a capacity of 150 million passengers annually. The first step of the project is anticipated to be completed on October 29, 2017 and the full project is planned to be completed in 2018. The Third Airport is expected to provide employment for 120 thousand people and the first part of the airport is planned to be opened on October 29, 2017. The annual passenger capacity of the airport is predicted to be 90 million in the first phase which will increase to 120 million in the third phase, to 150 million in the fourth phase and the project will become the biggest project in the world, outpacing Atlanta Airport in the USA. When the project is completed, 5 million new trees will have been planted in return for the ones which were cut for the construction. With the end of the project, Turkey will have covered a great distance in terms of air transport. With the completion of the airport, big storages, social life areas, hotels will be built in the area and employement will increase. THE THIRD BOSPHORUS BRIDGE The Third Bosphorus Bridge will be a high engineering and technology product and an 8-lane highway and 2-lane railway will pass along it at the same level. The Third Bosphorus Bridge which will rank among the world’s important bridges both with its aesthetic and technical aspects is planned to be opened on October 29. There will be a tender for link roads of the bridge, Kınalı-Odayeri highway and Kurtköy-Akyazı highway on May 6. Intercity and inner-city continuous railway transport will be available from Edirne to Izmit with the railway passing through the bridge and Atatürk Airport, Sabiha Gökçen Airport and the new Third Airport will be connected to one another by integrating this rail system with Marmaray and Istanbul Metro. It will contribute significantly to the economy of Turkey by providing employment for thousands of people during construction and operation processes and breathing new life to various sectors. IZMIT BAY SUSPENSION BRIDGE For the project, which was approved in July 2009, extending from Gebze to Izmir to relieve traffic in the west of Turkey along the North- South corridor, rope tensioning was conducted which will link two footings at the Izmit Bay Suspension Bridge, the most important part of the highway project. When put into service, Izmit Bay Suspension Bridge will save up to USD 165 million annually for the Turkish economy and the silhouette of the bridge has fully emerged with the ropes which link two 254 meter high footings being tensioned. Right now, 1350 workers are working on the construction of Izmit Bay Suspension Bridge, which upon completion will be the fourth biggest bridge in the world. An investment of USD 1.1 billion in total has been made to actualize Izmit Bay Suspension Bridge and it will serve with six lanes consisting of three ingoing and three outgoing lanes. The bridge is aimed to be opened for vehicular and pedestrian traffic at the beginning of 2016 at the latest. ÇANAKKALE SUSPENSION BRIDGE Works are being carried out regarding a project which will lift the burden of traffic to Europe off Istanbul and redirect it through Çanakkale. Çanakkale Bridge will be the world’s longest suspension bridge with its 2023 meters center span and 3623 meters length. The project will also include a railway and works are still in progress. It is expected that the railway line, which is planned to pass over Çanakkale Bridge, will reduce the transportation costs. The project will be actualized via the build-operatetransfer model. The project also includes the highway plan which will link the Aegean Region directly with the Kapıkule border gate. Thus, the traffic load on the Istanbul Strait and Istanbul caused by vehicles transporting from the Aegean Region to Europe will be relieved. Upon the completion of the project, there will be a highway ring in the Marmara Region which will travel around the Marmara Sea. KANAL ISTANBUL PROJECT The project will give Istanbul a new channel and there will be great change in the areas in the region. Together with urban transformation in the region, the city will have a modern structure. The Kanal Istanbul Project will also contribute a lot to the construction sector and it will link the Black Sea and the Marmara with a man-made channel. Turkey will also have a say in this area with the channel on which sea transportation will be performed. 37 million square meters of green space is reserved for the project which will relieve the traffic over the Istanbul Strait. KARS-TBILISI-BAKU RAILWAY It is the last phase of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) Railway Project, the construction of which started in 2008 and which will link China and London through Marmaray upon completion. The foundation of the railway project was laid on July 24, 2008 with the participation of the presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the project was discussed at the Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia Joint Transportation Commission meeting on December 29, 2004 in Tbilisi. Project works are ongoing, despite the intense winter conditions in Kars. Works are planned to be completed at the end of this year. When the line becomes operational, it is expected that one million passengers will be transported during the first stage. At the same time the products produced by three countries will be transported. It is aimed that 3 million tonnes will be transported in the medium term, when Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway is put into service. In 2034, 16 million 500 thousand tonnes and 1 million 500 thousand passengers are expected to be transported.