The 1915 Canakkale Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge connecting Europe and Asia, has officially opened. This building structure that crosses the Dardanelles Strait is already usable and quite impressive.
Last Friday (25/3) Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, and various other officials inaugurated a large bridge connecting two sides of Turkey, one located in Europe and the other in Asia.
This bridge will save travel time for 1.5 hours using the ferries that are usually used to cross. Standing at 2,023 meters between two towers, the 1915 Canakkale Bridge is now the largest suspension bridge in the world.
"Turkey has surpassed Japan, which has the longest bridge in the world in terms of mid-span, and has taken first place," Turkish President Erdogan said at the inauguration, as quoted by IFL Science.
It took five years to build this bridge jointly between Turkish and South Korean companies. The building, which cost $2.7 billion to build, is now Turkey's only highway connecting Europe and Asia outside Istanbul, and the journey itself takes only 6 minutes.
The 1915 Canakkale Bridge connects Gelibolu on the European side and Lapseki on the Asian side. The name of the bridge is inspired by the moment of the great naval victory of the Ottoman empire over British troops during World War I, when the British attempted to take control of the strait.
Because it was built by Turkey and South Korea, the 1915 Canakkale Bridge also has the meaning of friendship and was built to strengthen relations between the two countries.