Sultan Mehmet Al-Fateh Bridge, also called the Second Bosphorus Bridge, is a bridge located in Istanbul, Turkey, and crosses the Bosphorus Strait. The bridge was named after the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who opened Istanbul in 1453 and ended the Byzantine Empire. Today it is considered one of the longest suspension bridges in the world.

Location

The bridge connects the Asian side and the European side via the 2-O motorway. It is a suspension bridge that includes two steel towers. The distance between its two towers is 1090 meters, and the two towers rise from the road level 105 meters, and the distance between the bridge and sea level is 64 meters. The Sultan Mehmet Al-Fateh Bridge was The sixth longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1988. It is currently in the fourteenth position as the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Construction

The tower was designed by Freeman Fox & Partners, the same company that designed the Bosphorus Bridge. Work on the construction of the bridge was undertaken by a global consortium of three Japanese companies, an Italian company and a Turkish company. The bridge was completed on July 3, 1988 and was inaugurated by Turkish Vice President Turgut Özal, who drove his car as the first person to cross the bridge.

The cost of the bridge is up to 130 million US dollars.