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Bosphorus Bridge
The uniquness of the Bosphorus Bridge comes from the fact that Istanbul is the only place in the world where a bridge links two continents - Asia and Europe. In the beginning pedestrians could walk across the bridge and the elevators inside the legs were open to the public. I was told that due to the fact that jumping from the bridge is a rather common method to commit suicide, the bridge is closed for pedestrians nowadays. It is a toll bridge, and a toll plaza with I think over 10 toll booths is situated after the bridge on the Asian side.
Toll is paid for one way passing from the European side to the Asian side. Some history: During the Republican period, Nuri Demirag, the architect of the first plane manufactured in Turkey, proposed to build a bridge linking the two shores of the Bosphorus. In 1931 he prepared a project for his dream work - brige similar to the San Fransisco-Oakland Bay suspension bridge. The Minister of Public Works decreed that "this is not possible" and the project was abandoned. In 1953, the issue of linking the Bosphorus through a bridge was brought up at an official level for the first time. Yet the project was delayed due to financial and political difficulties. After about a decade a new government approved the construction of a bridge.
The construction took 3 years and the cost was 22 million US Dollars. The Bosphorus Bridge was officially opened in 1973 during the 50th anniversary celebrations of the foundation of the Republic. Some statistics: The bridge is 1560 m long, with a middle span of 1.074 m, a width of 33.40 m and an altitude of 64 m. The Bosphorus Bridge plays an important role in Istanbul traffic. It has three lanes at each direction and about 91,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily. The average queue length changes from 6 to 13 vehicles between 17:00-18:00 and from 19 to 21 vehicles between 18:00-18:30. Fully loaded, the bridge sags about 90cm in the middle of the span. It is the 4th of the longest bridges in Europe and the 7th in the world.
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