Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge

Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge
Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge (1988) in Istanbul, connecting Europe (left) and Asia (right).
Official name	Fatih Sultan Mehmet Köprüsü
Carries	Motorway O-2
Crosses	Bosphorus strait
Locale	Istanbul
Maintained by	Turkish State Highways
Designer	Freeman Fox & Partners
Design	Suspension bridge
Material	Steel
Total length	1,510 m (4,950 ft)
Width	39 m (128 ft)
Height	105 m (344 ft)
Longest span	1,090 m (3,580 ft)
Vertical clearance	64 m (210 ft)
Construction begin	1986
Construction end	July 3, 1988
Toll	OGS, KGS
Preceded by	Bosporus Bridge
Coordinates	41°5.5′N 29°4′E
FSM Bridge

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge (in Turkish: Fatih Sultan Mehmet Köprüsü, F.S.M. Köprüsü or 2. Boğaziçi Köprüsü), is a bridge in Istanbul, Turkey spanning the Bosphorus strait (Turkish: Boğaziçi). When completed in 1988 it had the 6th longest suspension bridge span in the world; today it is 15th.

The bridge is named after the 15th century Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who took Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 and ended the Byzantine Empire. It carries the European route E80, Asian Highway 1 and Otoyol 2 highways.

Location

The bridge is situated between Hisarüstü (European side) and Kavacık (Asian side). It is a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with steel pylons and vertical hangers. The aerodynamic deck is hanging on double vertical steel cables. It is 1,510 m long with a deck width of 39 m. The distance between the towers (main span) is 1,090 m and their height over road level is 105 m. The clearance of the bridge from sea level is 64 m.

Construction

The bridge was designed by Freeman Fox & Partners and BOTEK Bosphorus Technical Consulting Corp., who had previously also designed the Bosphorus Bridge. An international consortium of three Japanese companies (including IHI Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries), one Italian and one Turkish company (STFA) carried out the construction works. The bridge was completed on July 3, 1988 and opened by Prime Minister Turgut Özal who drove his official car by himself as the first to pass. The cost of the bridge amounted to USD 130 million.

Transportation

The bridge is on the Trans-European Motorway between Edirne and Ankara. The highway bridge has four lanes for vehicular traffic plus one emergency lane in each direction. On weekday mornings, commuter traffic flows mostly westbound to the European part, so five of the eight lanes run westbound and only three eastbound. Conversely, on weekday evenings, five lanes are dedicated to eastbound traffic and three lanes only to westbound. No pedestrians are allowed to use the bridge. Nowadays, around 150,000 vehicles are passing daily in both directions, almost 65% being automobiles.

Toll collection

Panoramic view at dusk from the Asian side

Fatih Sultan Mehmet is a toll bridge, but payment is required from only the vehicles passing from Europe to Asia (as in the First Bosphorus Bridge, no payment is required while passing from Asia to Europe.) Since April 2008, cash payments are no longer accepted, having been replaced by a remote payment system. In addition to OGS the contactless smart card KGS system is in use.

An OGS device or KGS card can be obtained at various stations before the toll plaza of highways and bridges.

Panoramic view of the Bosphorus strait, with the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge at right.

See also

• The Bosphorus Bridge, also called the First Bosphorus Bridge, is located about 5 km south of this bridge.
• Dardanelles Bridge Project
• Turkish Straits
• Marmaray

References

• Design and Construction Stages of Fatih Sultan Mehmed Bridge, ITU

External links

• Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge at Structurae
• Google aerial image of bridge
• 3D-model ″Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge″ for Google Earth