The world's longest suspension bridge will connect Europe and Asia

The Canakkale 1915 Bridge, slated to open in 2023, will first become a steel infrastructure spanning the Dardanelles, which separates the European and Asian continents.

While the Turkish government is undertaking an ambitious infrastructure investment program, parts of the country are being converted into new megatons and bridges. The 1915 Canakkale Bridge is one such project, conceived to be opened as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the modern Turkish Republic.

Turkey's northwest region functions as an important link between Europe and Asia, and land transport currently passes through a narrow strip of land around Istanbul that leads to the borders of Greece and Bulgaria.

The suspension bridge is being built in the northwestern Turkish province of Canakkale and will serve the 320 km Kinali-Tekirdag-Canakkale-Balikesir highway, which, once completed, will connect the Anatolian Peninsula and Eastern Thrace. This trip currently requires a 30 minute ferry ride, but once the bridge is in place it will be reduced to a short trip in just 10 minutes.

With a distance of 2,023 meters between the two towers, Canakkale 1915 will become the world's longest suspension bridge, 32 meters ahead of the Japanese Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Its full length, including access roads, extends up to 4608 meters. For the construction of the Canakkale Bridge, 128,000 tons of steel are involved.

The use of steel bridge elements represents a strategic partnership between Turkish and South Korean suppliers, with the Turkish company Çimtaş steel and POSCO agreeing to supply 35,000 tonnes of heavy steel sheet for tower structures, cable systems and pavement.

The partnership also supplies 52,000 tonnes of steel plate for the bridge deck and 41,000 tonnes of steel wire rod for the suspension system that will support it.

Unusually, Canakkale is launched as a design-build project. Typically, for bridge construction, design is completed before the selection of contractors and suppliers. However, for this project, construction and design are carried out simultaneously, and coordination between the architect and the contractors is required from the outset.

This record steel suspension bridge represents a $ 3 billion investment. The United States will be critical to the region's transport systems with socio-economic benefits across Turkey and Eastern Europe.