Details emerged Sunday of the first bridge to be built over Turkey's Canal Istanbul, a planned mega-project connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, taking pressure off the crowded Bosphorus Strait.
Foundations for the 1,618-meter (1 mile) bridge are expected be laid in the last week of June with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.
The cable-stayed bridge will be built to provide a crossing around Sazlidere in the Edirne province as part of the Northern Marmara Highway (including the Third Bosporus Bridge) Project's Basaksehir-Bahcesehir-Nakkas section (including connecting roads).
The bridge, whose main span is set to be 440 meters (481.2 yards) long, will have 136 stay cables, 272 anchorages, and four lanes of traffic in both directions.
The bridge's 196-meter (643-foot) towers will be built with "diamond" geometry.
As part of the Canal Istanbul project, which was announced in 2011, a total of six new bridges will be built.
The project's total cost is projected at $15 billion, with the six bridges carrying a price tag of $1.4 billion.
Some half a million people will be employed in the construction work.
The construction of the canal, with a daily passage capacity of 185 vessels, is expected to be completed in 2025-2026.
The planned 45-kilometer (28-mile) canal will be built west of the city center on the European side of the Istanbul province.
The mega-project, which aims to prevent risks posed by vessels carrying dangerous shipments through the Bosphorus Strait, was approved by the country's Environment and Urbanization Ministry.
