Turkey opens record-breaking bridge between Europe and Asia
CNN
The 1915 Canakkale Bridge features the world's longest single-span between suspension towers and will shorten travel times across the Dardanelles Strait from hours to just six minutes.
Istanbul (Reuters) — President Tayyip Erdogan opened a massive suspension bridge across Turkey's Dardanelles Strait on Friday, the latest in a series of major infrastructure projects which he has prioritized during his two decades in power.
Connecting Turkey's European and Asian shores, the 1915 Canakkale Bridge was built by Turkish and South Korean firms with an investment of €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion). It has the longest main span -- the distance between the two towers -- of any suspension bridge in the world.
Such mega projects have been central to Erdogan's achievements since his AK Party first came to power in 2002, including a new Istanbul airport, rail and road tunnels beneath Istanbul's Bosphorus strait, and a bridge over it.
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