It's the suspension bridge with the longest central span, at 1.25 miles (2.86 miles long in total).
The world's longest bridge which is a suspension bridge remains the Mackinac Bridge, at just shy of 5 miles long in total (central span of less than 3/4 mile).
Kinda. The Mackinac Bridge is the longest bridge in the world which contains a suspension component, but the majority of the bridge is not actually a suspension bridge. Only 1/3 of the Mackinac bridge is suspension (2,625m of 8,038m total length).
The longest (entirely) suspension bridge in the world is the Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge in Japan, with a suspension length of 4,015m. But it in turn is comprised of four towers, so it is effectively two suspension bridges strung together, which is why usually length of the central span is the benchmark for "longest suspension bridge in the world" and therefore why the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge is claiming the title.
> The longest (entirely) suspension bridge in the world is the Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge in Japan, with a suspension length of 4,015m
4,015m is 2.5 miles. The parent comment to you said that the 1915 Çanakkale bridge is 2.86 miles long in total. If those numbers are correct, the 1915 Çanakkale bridge would appear to be the longest suspension bridge by all measures, not just central span. I don't think it has anything to do with number of towers.
The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge is not an entirely suspension bridge either. The suspension part is in total 3,563m long, with the approach viaducts adding an additional 1,045m, for a total length of 4,608m (2.86mi).
This image[1] can help give you an idea of the additional length that is added by the approach without actually being part of the suspension bridge.
Central span length is definitely more interesting than overall length. Technically not a single bridge, but the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is over 17 miles long.
I find suspension bridges to be the most beautiful bridges in the world. There is something so timeless about them (they're literally maintainable almost indefinitely). Many modern bridges are now built as cable-stayed bridges because they're cheaper, but they have a limited lifespan and the concrete isn't nearly as attractive are the the intricate steel patterns found in suspension bridges.
Interestingly enough, both this new bridge and the previous record holder (Japan's Akashi Kaikyo) are in earthquake zones.
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge had its trial by fire during construction, when the Kobe Earthquake hit, and it passed with flying colors. Let's hope this bridge and Turkey's other megaprojects like the Marmaray tunnel under the Bosphorus in Istanbul also do so when the inevitable Big One hits.
Marmaray is constructed with cooperation of Japanese, and one of the older suspension bridges of Istanbul also designed by Japanese IIRC, hence I don't think they omitted the earthquake factor during the designs.
Also, yes suspension bridges are well suited for earthquakes.
Next time I hear somebody near, calling themselves a Software Engineer, I will hit them in the head with the latest edition of "Bridge Engineering Handbook", the "Substructure Design" volume...It's the heaviest.
Actually the story is even more absurd: the "part they managed to finish" was originally built together with a car and long-distance rail tunnel in the late nineties. Then they were forced to finish it and operate it for a few years as a completely senseless 3-station line not connected to the rest of the network, because otherwise Berlin would have had to pay back the federal subsidies they received for building the original tunnel.
And they completely abandoned the extension further west for which the stations Turmstraße and Jungfernheide were prepared for - it’s now replaced by a Tram line that will arrive there no earlier than 2028
Sure should they - but once not once per person thinking about the same thing. I think a huge problem is availability bias - these projects are/were reported on often because of the delays. The projects that work just fine get a whole lot less of attention.
Does anyone know why it connects Sütlüce to Lapseke rather than Kilitbahir
to Çanakkale further southwest along the Dardanelles? The gap looks about one third as wide there.
Perhaps most of the traffic will be coming from the northeast on the Europe side and the east on the Asia side, so Kilitbahir-Çanakkale would add an hour of driving for them? But if that's true, why didn't they built it at Gelibolu-Çardak, which naively looks like a similarly wide gap but would save half an hour?
More than 50000 people died there in one of the fiercest fights of WWI and many of those people was buried there without a grave. So those lands are treated as graveyards of martyrs, and therefore have historical and cultural importance.
Turkish people would not accept building the bridge and the roads there even if it was cheaper.
You mean the Martyrs' Memorial in Çardak? I guess. It still has a big highway going through the town (which is what this bridge connects to regardless), and I would think a suspension bridge would look very nice and respectful in the background of this view:
Judging from Google Maps satellite view (which shows it without the bridge) it looks like there were conveniently-placed islands where they built it...
Maybe I'm sounding too negative, but the Turkish lira is in freefall. Maybe with less printed money taken away purchasing power from the holders of the currency (mainly poor people who don't invest their money) to create ,,pride'' projects, people would feel more pride when going into the stores.
There's nothing "pride" project about this, it actually shortens the transportation time by lorry between the industrial heartlands of Bursa and Izmir and the EU. My brother, who's a lorry driver (we're from Romania), used to go to both Izmir and Bursa quite a lot, and often times he would text me "I'm on the ferry at Çanakkale". I guess that won't be the case anymore with this new bridge.
While we're on it (and because my brother has just had a delivery to Casablanca), a bridge (or even a tunnel?) that would connect Southern Spain to Northern Morocco would be entirely something else, it would better integrate Morocco's economy into the EU (and vice-versa) while strengthening the ties between Europe and Africa. Not sure though how much a project like that would cost, or if it's even possible.
While we're on it (and because my brother has just had a delivery to Casablanca), a bridge (or even a tunnel?) that would connect Southern Spain to Northern Morocco would be entirely something else, it would better integrate Morocco's economy into the EU (and vice-versa) while strengthening the ties between Europe and Africa. Not sure though how much a project like that would cost, or if it's even possible.
Unfortunately, the lack of natural resources plays the biggest role in turkey's weakness against inflation. Once people are poor enough, turkey gets outside investment, enjoys luxury for a decade and the cycle starts over once cash is gone.
Both bridges play the interesting role of spanning international waters wholly inside NATO countries. Russian naval vessels routinely pass under the Great Belt Bridge, and (I certainly assume) under the Istanbul one as well.
The Danube River is also "international waters" in the same way [0] - there are treaties permitting freedom of navigation on it. There must be hundreds of bridges over it, mostly wholly inside NATO countries.
I am always amazed by such megaprojects. Imagine how much planning and coordination needs to happen. So many different parts manufactured in different places need to come together at the right time and lifted up by a custom designed crane.
Yes, it's amazing when they actually succeed in delivering something at the end.
There is almost always some substantial fraction of the budget that went to corruption. (For nuke plants in the US, it is generally 2/3 or more of the total spend, often 3/2 of the original budget.) Nobody actually involved wants the project ever to deliver, because right then the money stops flowing; or, anyway, not until the kids graduate college or something.
So it is always amazing when these projects deliver.
I see that I forgot to include the word likely. Either way, what I said is not correct. The crane just moved upwards as more and more blocks are installed and wasn't flown in by helicopter to the top.
I don't really know what I was thinking there.
We might not be doing great on some fronts, but we can do engineering. It's not always at forefront, but we can create high quality or groundbreaking stuff too.
However our location on this pale blue dot makes a lot of things complicated. The land is big, and connected to very different cultures and it makes everything much more harder to balance when you add the historical events into it.
Erdogan has turned into a despot, but that's a fact, not a prejudice.
According to its Wikipedia page, this bridge has been designed by a Danish firm and was built by a consortium of Korean and Turkish firms.
Let's all give up the whole notion of "national pride". It only leads to wars in the end. Many Russians are blinded by their national pride.
"I know it's a lie when I hear that the Russian army is bombing civilians in Ukraine: because it's just impossible" said a nice old Russian lady when interviewed. :-(
I'm both French and American, and majored in History. Nothing to be proud of, if you subtract all the massacres, imperial wars, torture, colonization, slavery, etc from the achievements.
Humans Rights are under duress in both countries (Guantanamo, police violence) ; the democracy is under attack in both - even if their respective political situations are totally different.
This bridge symbolizes in my opinion the great achievements made possible when humans choose to cooperate rather than compete in the zero-sum game of national prides.
So, a great bridge, the longest of its kind! Well done, everybody, impressive!
The thing is, national pride is kinda mandatory in authoritarian countries. So, if there is one thing that the French and American can be proud of, it's the ability to openly criticize their government. Whether it leads to something or not is another discussion though.
Turkey has some top-tier construction firms. Also, it's actually a lot easier to build mega-projects in autocratic societies, for both better and worse.
The USSR was not a "despotism of the proletariat". Soviet propaganda portrayed their government as the will of the people, but in fact it was an autocracy. The actual despots during the space race were Krushchev and Brezhnev.
Do we really need more car focused infrastructure in the world? Can someone explain in more detail about why this is an important spot to link? How about a train line?
The world's longest bridge which is a suspension bridge remains the Mackinac Bridge, at just shy of 5 miles long in total (central span of less than 3/4 mile).