Bosphorus Bridge

About

The Bosphorus Bridge (Boğaziçi Köprüsü), known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge (15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü) and colloquially as the First Bridge (Birinci Köprü), is the oldest and southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait (Boğaziçi) in Istanbul, Turkey, thus connecting Europe and Asia (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 towers and inclined hangers. The aerodynamic deck hangs on steel cables. It is 1,560 m (5, 118 ft) long with a deck width of 33.40 m (110 ft). The distance between the towers (main span) is 1,074 m (3, 524 ft) and the total height of the towers is 165 m (541 ft). The clearance of the bridge from sea level is 64 m (210 ft). 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 (only the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge 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 (whi

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.