In 2012, Istanbul hosted 9.5 million foreign tourists and the authorities expect over 10 million foreign tourists to visit the city this year. The same authorities also say that they are ready to provide an efficient public transport for the Organisation of the Olympic Games in 2020. Istanbul, together with Tokyo and Madrid, is one of the candidate cities for the organisation of the Olympic Games.
Already the public transport city in Istanbul – a city with 16 million inhabitants – is very well organised and new projects are in plan. The Government in Ankara announced they planned to allocate EUR 14.87 Billion to this complex sports event and the majority of funds will be dedicated to the improvement of public transport system between the European and Asian parts of the Istanbul. The funds allocated are three times higher than those estimated by Tokyo and Madrid together. The city on the banks of the Black Sea and Marmara Sea has a very efficient and easy to access rail transport system – tram and light rail. Also, the inauguration in October 2013 of Marmaray Tunnel is another plus of the public transport system in Istanbul.
Recently, on 29 May, Turkey announced the initiation of construction works to a new bridge across the Bosporus, the first one equipped with a railway line. 59-m wide, the bridge will be in fact the widest in the world and the third bridge to link the Asian part of Istanbul to the European part of the city. According to the Turkish Minister of Transport, Binali Yıldırım, the bridge could be functional starting with 2015. The bridge will be built in the north of the other two existing bridges between the Garipçe district (the European part) and the Poyrazköy district (the Asian part). The bridge will be 1.4km long and will be built on two levels. Thus, the superior level will have eight lanes for road traffic, four in each direction. The railways will be built on the inferior level of the bridge. The bridge will connect the new airport of Istanbul due in 2016. The new airport will be transited by 150 million passengers per year.
The transport network in Istanbul has developed constantly in the last ten years; two new light rail networks have been built as well as a new rapid bus line. According to the Master Plan on Integrated Urban Transport (IUAP) 2009 – 2013, EUR 3 Billion have already been invested in public transport infrastructure. According to the same development plan, the authorities have committed to allocate another EUR 6.8 Billion for the next ten years. The same group of financing includes Marmaray Tunnel as well. The transport plan for Istanbul 2020 will focus on the existing transport capacity (already significant), as well as on the underground, tram and Metrobus networks of the city so as to offer an efficient transport to participants. On average, the stations will be less than one kilometre away of the respective accommodation, guaranteeing that 91% of the sportsmen’ journeys will take 30 minutes or less and will ensure an average journey time of only 16 minutes.
The Turkish Minister of Transport, Binali Yıldırım talked about how important would these public transport projects be for the future of Istanbul and stressed the fact that the projects would be continued whether Istanbul hosted or not the 2020 Olympic Games.
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