Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has announced an estimated $3.5 billion mega-project for a three-level sub-sea tunnel under Bosphorus Strait, which will connect the city’s two sides with one railway and two highways, cutting travel times to 14 minutes.
Davutoğlu described the 6.5 km-long tunnel as the first of its kind in the world, comprised of one rail system between two highways for motor vehicles 110 meters under the Bosphorus Strait.
He said the Bosphorus Bridge, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (currently under construction) will be connected to each other once the tunnel is completed.
“The tunnel will both reduce the traffic load on the bridges and enable maximum time saving,” Davutoğlu added. The railway level of the tunnel will also be equipped with automatic signaling and auto-deceleration and acceleration systems, hurriyetdailynews.com informs.
The tunnel is planned to be integrated into nine railed systems and connected to the Marmaray line, and will connect Istanbul’s three airports and nine rail systems with land routes.
The transportation capacity of the tunnel will be 6.5 million passengers, adding that the structure will increase the annual figure crossing Istanbul’s two sides from 1.6 million to 4 million.
Photo: www.dailysabah.com
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