The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge's main span is a record-breaking 2,023m long; the two distinctive red towers have a height of 318m, the tallest in the world for suspension bridges.

The length of the main span symbolises the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey; the tower height of 318m above sea level symbolises the Çanakkale Naval Victory on 18^th March 1915, a critical date in the Turkish nation’s battle for independence.

The total length of the bridge is 4,608 metres, including side spans of 770 metres each and approach viaducts of 365 and 680 metres.

Client for the public-private partnership scheme is the Turkish Ministry of Transport & Infrastructure’s General Directorate of Highways (KGM). The project investors are DL E&C (South Korea), Limak (Turkey), SK Ecoplant (South Korea), Yapı Merkezi (Turkey) and the contracting team, DLSY JV, is made up of DL E&C, Limak, SK Ecoplant and Yapı Merkezi.

The bridge was designed by Cowi, with independent design verification conducted by Arup and AAS-Jakobsen.  Cowi has been the consultant for the design-build contractor DLSY joint venture since the start of the project in the spring of 2017. It carried out detailed design the suspension bridge and also construction engineering for the erection of the bridge girder.

Limak Group chairwoman Ebru Özdemir said: “Speaking on behalf of Limak, I feel incredibly proud of this engineering achievement. Not only will the Çanakkale 1915 Bridge make travelling and commuting much easier, it will also act as a symbol of the unity between East and West for future generations.”

Cowi project director Inger Birgitte Kroon said: “The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge has been a fantastic project to work with. Not just for all the technical challenges that we as engineers love but also for the strong collaboration with DLSY, the owner and other involved parties. Only with a collaborative mindset from all parties has it been possible to design and construct a world record suspension bridge in less than five years.”

The total investment cost was €2.5bn (£2.1bn).

The area where the bridge is located is marked by challenges - such as high winds, high seismic activity and high-stacked container ships - that all had to be considered. Strong winds are always critical for a long span suspension bridge and to ensure aerodynamic stability a twin-box girder was adopted.

The bridge is located at the southern entrance to the Marmara Sea towards Istanbul and is the only route toward the Black Sea in the North, with very large container ships and cruise ships passing under the bridge, the risk of ship impact was considered in the design.

The foundations of the bridge towers stand on the seabed at -45m on the Asian shore and at -37m on the European shore. As part of the soil improvement works, 165 steel piles of 2.5m diameter were driven for the Asian tower foundation, and 203 for the European tower foundation.  

The bridge over the Sea of Marmara has been built to slash travel times across the Çanakkale Strait 1.5 to 5 hours to just a few minutes. Completion of the motorway and the bridge establishes an uninterrupted route allow access from Europe to the southwest of Turkey and the industrial areas such as Izmir and Aydın. 

In addition to the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, the project also includes the construction of two approach viaducts, two concrete viaducts, 12 bridges, 43 overpasses, 40 underpasses, 236 culverts of various sizes, 12 junctions, four motorway service areas, two operation and maintenance centres and five toll plazas.

World's longest suspension bridges*

(* according to Wikipedia. Send corrections to editor@theconstructionindex.co.uk)

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