Türkiye set to inaugurate 1915 Canakkale Bridge

The overpass features the world's longest mid-span suspension bridge, measuring 2,023 metres, which symbolises the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye.

A total of 516,863 saplings were planted around the bridge as part of landscaping efforts.
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A total of 516,863 saplings were planted around the bridge as part of landscaping efforts.

The 1915 Canakkale Bridge, described as the "necklace of the Canakkale Strait" will be inaugurated on Friday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the 107th anniversary of the Canakkale (Gallipoli) Naval Victory.

It will become the world's longest mid-span suspension bridge with its unique structural characteristics, colours and other features.

Besides the staff of Türkiye's Transport and Infrastructure Ministry's General Directorate of Highways, nearly 5,100 workers and 740 construction equipment were involved in the construction of the bridge that connects the Asian and European continents for the first time in the Dardanelles.

A total of 516,863 saplings were planted around the bridge as part of landscaping efforts.

Four cannonball figures, each weighing 75 tons and 20.5 metres (67 feet) high, will be placed on the top of four towers, symbolizing the cannonball that Corp. Seyit Ali Cubuk (Onbasi), one of the heroes of the Canakkale War on Gallipoli Peninsula, carried on his back.

An artilleryman responsible for loading cannons, Seyit is famous for single-handedly lifting a shell of more than 250 kilograms (550 pounds) into the cannon barrel when the automatic loading crane failed.

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100th anniversary

Loading one, two, then three shells on his back to be fired at invading ships, it was Seyit who sunk the British flagship HMS Ocean.

With the Malkara-Canakkale Highway and the 1915 Canakkale Bridge, the ports, railway and air transportation systems in the Marmara and Aegean regions will be integrated with land transportation projects, enabling economic development and the creation of a balanced planning and structuring required by the industry in the regions.

The 2,023-metre (1.25 miles) mid-span of the bridge symbolises the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye, while its 318-metre (1,043 feet) steel towers symbolize March 18, 1915, the Canakkale Naval Victory.

The project, in which the red-white towers represent the Turkish flag, has the title of suspension bridge with the highest towers in the world, with a tower height of 334 metres (1,095.8 feet).

READ MORE: The significance of Türkiye's new ‘1915 Canakkale Bridge’

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