The Bosphorus Bridge (), known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge () and colloquially as the First Bridge (), is the oldest and southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait (Turkish: ''Boğaziçi'') in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, thus connecting

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

(alongside the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge). The bridge extends between Ortaköy (in Europe) and Beylerbeyi (in Asia). It is a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

towers and inclined hangers. The

aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

deck hangs on steel cables. It is General Directorate of Highways: Project information about the 15 July Martyrs Bridge
(Turkish) long with a deck width of . The distance between the towers (main span) is and the total height of the towers is . The clearance of the bridge from sea level is . Upon its completion in 1973, the Bosphorus Bridge had the fourth-longest suspension bridge span in the world, and the longest outside the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(only the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...

and Mackinac Bridge had a longer span in 1973). The Bosphorus Bridge remained the longest suspension bridge in Europe until the completion of the Humber Bridge in 1981, and the longest suspension bridge in Asia until the completion of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge (Second Bosphorus Bridge) in 1988 (which was surpassed by the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge in 1989). Currently, the Bosphorus Bridge has the 40th-longest suspension bridge span in the world. After a group of soldiers took control and partially closed off the bridge during the military coup d'état attempt on 15 July 2016, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım proclaimed on 25 July 2016 the decision of the Cabinet of Turkey that the bridge will be formally renamed as the ''15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü'' (''July 15th Martyrs Bridge'') in memory of those killed while resisting the attempted coup. The Bosphorus Bridge is famous for its important transport routes, connecting parts of Europe to Turkey.

Precedents and proposals

The idea of a bridge crossing the Bosphorus dates back to antiquity. The Greek writer

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

says in his Histories that, on the orders of Emperor

Darius the Great Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

(522 BC–485 BC), Mandrocles of Samos once engineered a pontoon bridge across the Bosphorus, linking Asia to Europe; this bridge enabled Darius to pursue the fleeing

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

as well as position his army in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

to overwhelm Macedon. The first modern project for a permanent bridge across the Bosphorus was proposed to Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

by the Bosphorus Railroad Company in 1900, which included a rail link between the continents.

Construction

The decision to build a bridge across the Bosphorus was taken in 1957 by Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. For the structural engineering work, a contract was signed with the British firm Freeman Fox & Partners in 1968. The bridge was designed by the British civil engineers Gilbert Roberts, William Brown and Michael Parsons, who also designed the Humber Bridge, Severn Bridge, and Forth Road Bridge. David B Steinman, an American engineer who had recently designed the Mackinac Bridge was also contracted, but died early on in the design process in 1960. Construction started in February 1970 and ceremonies were attended by President Cevdet Sunay and Prime Minister

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

. The bridge was built by the Turkish firm Enka Construction & Industry Co. along with the co-contractors Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company (England) and Hochtief AG (Germany). The bridge was completed on 30 October 1973, one day after the 50th anniversary of the founding of the

Republic of Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and opened by President Fahri Korutürk and Prime Minister Naim Talu. The cost of the bridge was US$200 million ($ in dollars). Upon the bridge's opening, it was often defined by the media as the first bridge between Asia and Europe since the pontoon bridge of Xerxes in 480 BC. That bridge, however, spanned the Hellespont (

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

) strait to the southwest of the Bosphorus, across the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

, and was in fact the second pontoon bridge between Asia and Europe after an earlier one built by

across the Bosphorus strait in 513 BC.

Operation and tolls

The bridge highway is eight lanes wide. Three standard lanes, one emergency lane and one pedestrian lane serve each direction. On weekday mornings, most

commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

traffic flows westbound to Europe, so four of the six lanes run westbound and only two eastbound. Conversely, on weekday evenings, four lanes are dedicated to eastbound traffic and two lanes, to westbound traffic. For the first three years,

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s could walk over the bridge, reaching it with elevators inside the towers on both sides. No pedestrians or commercial vehicles, such as

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s, are allowed to use the bridge today. Today, around 180,000 vehicles pass daily in both directions, with almost 85% being

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s. On 29 December 1997, the one-billionth

vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...

passed the bridge. Fully loaded, the bridge sags about in the middle of the span. It is a toll bridge. A toll is charged for passing from Europe to Asia, but not for passing in the reverse direction. Between 1999 and 2006, some of the toll booths (#9 - #13), which were located to the far left as motorists approached them, were unmanned and equipped only with a remote payment system (Turkish: OGS). In addition to the OGS system, another toll pay system with special contactless smart cards (Turkish: KGS) was installed at specific toll booths in 2005. Toll payments in cash were stopped on 3 April 2006. Between 2006 and 2012, toll booths accepted only OGS or KGS. An OGS device or KGS card could be obtained at various stations before reaching the toll plazas of highways and bridges. In 2006, the toll was 3.00 TL or about $2.00. Since April 2007, a computerised LED lighting system of changing colours and patterns, developed by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, illuminates the bridge at night. On 17 September 2012, the KGS system on the Bosphorus Bridge was replaced by the new HGS system ( Turkish: ''Hızlı Geçiş Sistemi''), which also replaced the OGS system a decade later, on 31 March 2022. The HGS system requires a batteryless front window sticker with a passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, whereas the older OGS system required a small RFID device with a battery that was sticked to the front window. In 2017, the toll increased by nearly 50% from 4.75 to 7 TRY. After 21 months, in late 2019, the toll went up another 20% to 10.50 TRY. Tolls need to be increased almost every year to keep up with high producers' price inflation. File:Bosphorus Bridge.jpg, Since April 2007, a computerized LED lighting system, capable of changing colors and patterns, illuminates the bridge at night. File:The Bosphorus Bridge (8425286568) edited.jpg, Daytime view of the Bosphorus Bridge File:15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü Anadolu Yakası.jpg,

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

tolls of the HGS system

Notable events

The bridge was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 1000

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

banknotes of 1978–1986. Since 1979, every October, the annual Intercontinental Istanbul Eurasia Marathon crosses the bridge on its way from Asia to Europe. During the marathon, the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic. Bosfor B17-34

On 15 May 2005 at 07:00 local time, U.S. tennis star Venus Williams played a show game with Turkish player İpek Şenoğlu on the bridge, the first tennis match played on two continents. The event promoted the upcoming 2005 WTA İstanbul Cup and lasted five minutes. After the exhibition, they both threw a tennis ball into the Bosphorus. On 17 July 2005 at 10:30 local time, British

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver David Coulthard drove his Red Bull racing car across the bridge from the European side to the Asian side, then, after turning with a powerslide at the toll plaza, back to the European side for show. He parked his car in the garden of Dolmabahçe Palace where his ride had started. While crossing the bridge with his Formula 1 car, Coulthard was picked up by the automatic surveillance system and charged with a fine of 20

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s because he passed through the toll booths without payment. His team agreed to pay for him. On 5 November 2013, World No. 1 golfer

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

, visiting for the 2013 Turkish Airlines Open golf tournament held between 7 and 10 November, was brought to the bridge by helicopter and made a couple of show shots on the bridge, hitting balls from the Asian side to the European side on one side of the bridge, which was closed to traffic for about one hour. On 15 July 2016, the bridge was blocked by a rogue faction of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

during a coup attempt. They arrested civilians and police officers. The soldiers involved surrendered to police and to civilians the next day. On 25 July 2016, Binali Yıldırım, Turkey's last

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

before a

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

was adopted with a referendum in 2017, announced that the bridge would be renamed as the ''15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü'' ( 15 July Martyrs Bridge). In honor of the victims who were martyred while resisting the coup attempt, a monument, museum and mosque were built on a roadside hill near the Asian (Anatolian) end of the bridge. File:Bosphorus Bridge-1.jpg, Daytime view of the bridge File:Boğaziçi Köprüsü - Aerial view.jpg, Aerial view of the bridge File:E6 1.000 TL arka yüz.jpg, The bridge on the reverse of the 1000 lira banknote (1978–1986)

Notes and references

External links

WowTurkey: Bosphorus Bridge Photos (Daytime)
()
WowTurkey: Bosphorus Bridge Photos (Night)
()
Live traffic camera pictures
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Satellite image from Google

Bosphorus Bridge Panoramics In Istanbul , Turkey

3D-model 'First Bosphorus Bridge' for Google Earth
() {{Authority control Beşiktaş Bosphorus crossings Bridges completed in 1973 Bridges in Istanbul Road bridges in Turkey Suspension bridges in Turkey Toll bridges in Turkey Üsküdar 1973 establishments in Turkey