ANKARA - AA With the completion of Istanbul's third transcontinental bridge, the Istanbul-Izmir Highway Project including the world's fourth longest suspension bridge – the Osmangazi Bridge – plus the Eurasia and Ilgaz Mountain tunnels, 2016 was Turkey's year of mega projects.
The satellite put into orbit is a high-resolution optical earth observation satellite for civilian and military applications, which has a capability of scanning high-resolution images (up to 0.8 meters) and an onboard X-band digital imaging system to handle data compression, storage and downloading, according to the Turkish Armed Forces.
The station, which was built in two years through the public-private partnership model at a cost of $235 million, is among a set of leading infrastructure projects planned as part of a series of objectives to be completed in time for Turkey's centennial in 2023.
Istanbul's Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which cost nearly $3 billion to construct through the build-operate-transfer finance model, was opened on Aug. 26 as the world's longest suspension rail bridge in its class. It will lead to $1.75 billion a year in savings through reduced travel times and energy costs.
The 1.4km (0.9 mile) bridge will carry eight lanes of traffic and two rail lines between Europe and Asia at the entrance of the Bosporus to the Black Sea when the Northern Marmara Motorway Project -- the next two phases of which will see 257km (160 miles) of roads -- is completed by the end of 2018.
This third Bosporus bridge was named after Selim I, the 16th century sultan known for his expansion of the Ottoman Empire. It follows the July 15 Martyrs' Bridge - previously the Bosporus Bridge - and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, named after the 15th century Ottoman sultan who led armies conquering Istanbul, in spanning the important waterway.
A landmark road bridge over Turkey's Marmara Sea to cut travel times between Istanbul and the country's western provinces was opened to traffic in June, forming part of a new six-lane Istanbul-Izmir highway which cost around $6.3 billion.
The $1.3-billion earthquake-resistant Osmangazi Bridge, a 2,682-meter structure, was named after Osman Gazi, the founder and first sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The 421km (261.6-mile) highway project is being built through a public-private partnership as the first road project in the country to be procured under the build-operate-transfer model.
It will eventually cut the average journey time between the Aegean coastal province of Izmir and Istanbul (480km apart) from 10 hours to approximately four.
