Third Bridge in Istanbul

The first bridge over İstanbul’s Bosporus was the Boğaziçi Bridge, which was opened in 1973 by then-President Fahri Korutürk, while the FSM began operating in 1988 when Turgut Özal was prime minister. The Turkish government announced plans to construct a third bridge over the Bosphorus.The name of the future bridge has not been decided yet. The third bridge is expected to connect a highway starting in the Western province of Tekirdağ’s Kınalı with another highway starting from the Paşaköy neighborhood in İstanbul’s Asian side.

The minister said the government expects a sufficient amount of traffic to utilize the route once it is finalized. Experts expressed mixed feelings about the proposal of the Tarabya-Beykoz route, north of the two existing bridges .Some argued it would improve the area. Supporters of the new bridge also say it will make Turkey an important transportation corridor. They point to other highways that have crossed the three largest water reservoirs of Istanbul as evidence that mega infrastructure projects can be built safely(2009).

However others argued that a third bridge would threaten the natural resources of Istanbul and was not a real solution to the city’s traffic problem because it will encourage more people to use cars, increase Istanbul’s chronic traffic problem, the fumes of the traffic will pollute the forests and kill the natural life there and also damage social life and bring new economic problems.

The government argued about reducing the Istanbul’s traffic problems however there is a fact that it will create its own traffic.There are 3.3 million motor vehicles on road in the region that the North Marmara project covers.Land transportation shoulders 87 percent of İstanbul’s mass transportation burden.The government officals stated that the bridge would be essential for easing the city’s traffic congestion(2010).However all scientific stuides show that bridges increase the traffic load. It will create its own traffic potential.

The solution only may be developing public transportation on rails. This plan does not exist rail traffic. More cars will be sold and added to the existing load. The government claimed that third bridge will not damage the nature however many experts preotested the third bridge because after the construction many parts of forests won’t be existed anymore. Some of İstanbul’s prominent forestry areas are along the third bridge route.Belgrade Forest, Fatih Forest and the Polonezköy.

The project is expected to be finalized with little damage to these sites but destroying large parts of the Belgrade Forest, crossing the Bosporus at one if its picturesque locations, a huge waste of money for building a highway far from the city through uninhabited territory will be a murdery.It is clearly known that the third bridge would start a large-scale damage to forest lands on both sides of Istanbul, on the green lands of Kocaeli and Thrace Peninsulas.

All the forests in the North which serve as oxygen generating areas, as breathing lungs of the City will be under great danger due to the bridge and its connection roads construction. An area about as large as the Belgrade Forest would be damaged as a result of the third bridge construction activities, as it is stated by the authorities that the third bridge and its highways will be linked to the Black Sea Coastal Highway which has done great harm to the natural Black Sea Coastline(2008).

It is claimed that the bridge will contribute to the city economically however this means more unemployment and more homelessness.The government argue that this infrastructure project would create massive investment and jobs and tackle increasing unemployment rates(2010).The main aim of this 6-billion-dollar project is to channel money into the car, logistics and construction sectors. This money comes out of Istanbulites’ pockets and they will pay the cost in terms of reduced living standards.

The bottled water that they drink wil become more expensive, and the air they breathe more polluted. Bu they need both to live.Istanbul’s population is already five times of what this area can cope with. With a new bridge, the population will increase. This will mean more unemployment and more homelessness. “The introduction of the third bridge will be the death of Istanbul,” said Dr. Pr. Murat Cemal Yalçıntan of Mimar Sinan University in an interview(2010).