The first highway under the Bosphorus was inaugurated in Istanbul

World News Nilgun Salim
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated on Tuesday in Istanbul, the first road tunnel under the Bosphorus, the latest in a string of projects for infrastructure transformation in Turkey, AFP, quoted by Agerpres.

The inauguration ceremony, attended by most of the political elite of Turkey, was carried out despite the shocking assassination of the Russian ambassador in Ankara.

Turkey has inaugurated the Marmaray rail tunnel since October 2013, the first rail link between the European and Asian shores of Istanbul.

But the new road tunnel Avrasya (Eurasia) is the first that allows you to go with your own vehicle under the Bosporus, in the of decongesting the traffic in a city with 18 million inhabitants.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that by the end of this year, a trip through the new tunnel will cost 15 pounds (approximately four euros) and all proceeds will go to the families of victims of the coup and those who helped to remedy the situation after the coup.

With a length of 5.4 km, of which a section of 3.4 kilometers beneath the Bosphorus tunnel Avrasya (Eurasia) will reduce the journey time between Europe and Asia at 15 minutes, said Turkish Minister of Transport, Ahmet Arslan, who estimates that between 120.000 and 130.000 vehicles will pass daily through the new tunnel.

Powered by a consortium composed of Turkish Yapi Merkezi Group and the South Korean SK Group, the project required an investment of 1.245 billion USD, which includes a loan of $960 million.

The tunnel has two floors and, according to builders, excavated land would fill 788 Olympic swimming pools, the amount of used cement would fill 18 stadiums while the amount of used iron would allow the construction of ten Eiffel Towers.