The groundbreaking ceremony for the Çanakkale 1915 Bridge will be held on March 18 on the 102nd anniversary of the Çanakkale Victory with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım in attendance.The bridge, with a 2,023-meter-long central span, as a nod to the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, is scheduled to be completed in 2023.

Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan told the Anadolu Agency (AA) that a signature ceremony would also be held for the mega bridge project, prior to the groundbreaking ceremony, with South Korean Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kang Ho-in in attendance.

Arslan added that the groundbreaking ceremony for the 352-kilometer-long Tekirdağ-Çanakkale-Gelibolu-Balıkesir-Savaştepe Highway's 100-kilometer-long Malkara-Çanakkale section would also be held. The highway will connect Malkara-Gelibolu-Çanakkale 1915 Bridge and Çanakkale in the first stage.

Suggesting that under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government new additions were made every day to projects, Arslan said mega projects like the Osmangazi Bridge, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Eurasia Tunnel were put in service only in the past year. He also pointed out that work to open the first stage of Istanbul's third Airport was also in progress.

The minister said the bridge, which will be built between Lapseki's Şekerkaya district on the Anatolian side and Gelibolu's Sütlüce district on the European side, would place Çanakkale in an indispensable position in the Marmara region along the transportation line extending from Thrace to the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

"The total distance between the two sides with their edge is to be 3,860 meters. Meanwhile, the distance between the two feet of the bridge, which will be over 5 kilometers with the approach viaducts, will be 2,023 meters," he said.

The highway will be 354 kilometers in length. The bridge and 100-kilometer section of the highway should open in 2023.Arslan said that the road would start in Silivri, Istanbul, and connect to the highway in Balıkesir's Balya district. In the project, 31 viaducts, five tunnels, 30 interchanges and 143 underpasses and overpasses will be built in addition to the bridge on the Dardanelles Strait.

"Work along the bridge route is being conducted by relevant institutions and organizations where the feet of the bridge, realized with an investment of over TL 10 billion, will be positioned and the groundbreaking ceremony will be held," Arslan said.

Defined as a "global project," the bridge, will feature a six-lane divided highway. It is expected to positively affect the economy and social life in Çanakkale, improve trade in the Aegean region, especially in İzmir, and turn the region into an attraction center.

The bridge, whose construction tender was completed on Jan. 26, will be the first on the Dardanelles Strait and the fifth suspension bridge in the Marmara region.