The world’s longest suspension bridge links two continents and can be traversed in just a few minutes.
The daily grind of commuting is something many are familiar with, with INRIX stating that the typical US driver spends 51 hours annually in traffic, losing two days and wasting significant amounts of fuel.
It’s understandable why many seek to escape the daily routine with vacations, although the idea of a road trip might be less appealing if you already spend too much time in your car on highways.
However, there’s an impressive bridge that connects Europe and Asia, reducing travel time by an astounding 93 percent.
This was the vision of Turkish officials when they initiated the construction of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, which spans northwestern Turkey across the Dardanelles Strait, linking the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
The bridge connects Gelibolu on Turkey’s European side with Lapseki on the Asian side.
This eliminates the need for a 90-minute ferry ride, allowing travelers and commuters to cross in just six minutes.
Despite the ‘1915’ in its name, construction of the bridge began in March 2017 and it was opened to the public in March 2022.
The name of the bridge pays tribute to an Ottoman victory in World War I, which eventually led to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.
The bridge’s 2,023-meter span also honors the centennial of the Turkish Republic in 2023.
The height of 318 meters represents March 18, the date Turkey remembers those lost at Gallipoli.
The bridge, at 2,023 meters, surpasses Japan’s Akashi Kaikyo Bridge by 32 meters, which was completed in 1998.
The construction of the Turkish bridge came with a significant cost of $2.7 billion.
“Turkey has overtaken Japan, which has the longest bridge in the world in terms of the midspan, and has taken the first place,” said President Erdogan during the inauguration ceremony.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum added: “The 1915 Canakkale Bridge will leave this history of collision and conflict behind and will be a bridge between East and West, starting a new era of peace and prosperity.”
Regarding the absence of bridges in other significant locations globally, experts have shared insights.
For instance, why isn’t there a bridge over the 4,000-mile-long Amazon River?
Building such a bridge isn’t feasible, despite it seeming like a logical idea.
Walter Kaufmann, chair of Structural Engineering (Concrete Structures and Bridge Design) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, explained to Live Science: “There is no sufficiently pressing need for a bridge across the Amazon.”
Given its vastness, the areas around the river are sparsely populated, resulting in a lack of major roads to connect with the bridge.