15 JULY MARTYRS BRIDGE

Description

Essentials about the 15 July Martyrs Bridge in brief

If you want to enjoy a beautiful view of the Bosphorus and the districts of Istanbul close to the city, you should cross the 15 July Martyrs Bridge. Formerly called the Bosphorus Bridge or First Bridge, it is the oldest of three bridges in Istanbul that span the Bosphorus, connecting the European and Asian parts of the city. It was opened in 1973 and connects the Beşiktaş and Üsküdar districts. The 15 July Martyrs Bridge is a suspension bridge with six lanes, two emergency lanes and a footpath. The direction of travel of the main lanes is not fixed, but is adjusted to the flow of traffic depending on the time of day and day of the week. On weekdays, four lanes run from east to west in the morning and four from west to east in the evening to accommodate rush-hour traffic from Asia to Europe, where most workplaces are located.

The architecture of the 15 July Martyrs Bridge

The bridge deck, which runs almost horizontally, connects the districts located on the high banks, while the districts directly on the shore lie deep below the bridge. It crosses the Bosphorus with a clear height of 64 meters, so that even large ships such as aircraft carriers and cruise ships can pass. Its length between the anchor blocks located on the high banks is 1,560 meters. The span between the pylons is 1,074 meters. Its two steel pylons stand directly on the shore. They are 165 meters high and overhang the roadway by 105 meters. The bridge deck is 33 meters wide in total.

The history of the 15 July Martyrs Bridge

The first proposal to build a suspension bridge over the Bosporus was developed by architect Paul Bonatz in 1951, and eight years later it was decided to build the bridge. However, concrete planning did not begin until 1968. In 1970, an international consortium of construction companies started building. The Bosphorus Bridge was opened on the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1973.

For the first four years, the bridge was also open to pedestrians – they were transported from the Bosphorus shore to roadway level by elevators in the pylons. However, due to numerous suicide jumps, the bridge was closed to pedestrians.

In 1988, a second bridge over the Bosphorus called the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge was opened five kilometers to the north. Finally, in 2016, a third bridge was completed with the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge located at the northern end of the Bosphorus, just before the Black Sea.

During the coup attempt by parts of the Turkish military on July 15 and 16, 2016, the bridge, as a strategically important site, became one of the scenes of fierce clashes between anti-government military personnel and supporters of the Turkish president, as well as the Turkish police. As a result, only a few days later it was renamed the “Bridge of the Martyrs of July 15”.