Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge – the third bridge to link Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus.
The bridge – which began being built in May 2013 and was completed at a cost of $3 billion – has been constructed with the intention of providing traffic, particularly freight, with a way to bypass the busy motorways of inner Istanbul and the two pre-existing bridges.
It has a total of eight lanes for cars as well as two railway lines. In order to accommodate these, it is 58.5 meters wide – wider than any other suspension bridge in the world.
The Turkish Government hopes the bridge will ultimately help tackle air pollution and save around $1.45 billion in energy costs and $335 million in labour costs.
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