A
92-Turkish-Lira fine has been imposed on drivers who stop to take
selfies on Turkey’s Osman Gazi Bridge, which was opened to traffic on
June 30 following over half-a-decade of construction and is the
fourth-longest suspension bridge in the world.
People traveling
for the Eid al-Fitr holiday used the bridge over the Marmara Sea to
drastically cut travel time between Istanbul and the country’s western
provinces, but a traffic jam was caused by a number of drivers who
stopped to take selfies on the right side of the bridge.
“This is
a highway. It’s forbidden to stop and park here. Transportation is
hindered when people curious to see the bridge stop along the way. A
fine of 92 Turkish Liras is imposed on drivers who ignore the warnings,”
said officials responsible for traffic on the bridge.
A number
of drivers used the newly-opened bridge, which was free of charge to use
during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, to travel towards the northwestern
province of Yalova and then return towards the Marmara province of
Kocaeli. A number of them stopped to take selfies, as the officials
warned them to continue on their way.
Fines were imposed for
parking or stopping for reasons outside of necessity and without taking
proper precautions on a highway for those who ignored the warnings. Many
drivers were seen filming or taking pictures while driving.
The
bridge, a 2,682-meter-long structure, is the fourth-longest suspension
bridge in the world and the second longest in Europe. The $1.3-billion
bridge was named after Osman Gazi, the founder and first sultan of the
Ottoman Empire.
It was formally inaugurated by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on June 30.
The
bridge crosses between two points on the southern shore of the Marmara
Sea along the route of the new six-lane Istanbul-İzmir Highway Project,
which will cost around $6.3 billion in total.
The existing
route between Gebze, a district in Kocaeli bordering Istanbul, and the
western province of İzmir is 540 kilometers long and currently takes
eight to 10 hours to travel. The new motorway is expected to reduce the
average journey time between the two cities to three to four hours,
while relieving the traffic load on the existing route by more than 30
percent. The 421-km road project involves 30 viaducts.
The new
bridge and highway will also mean that the drive-time between Istanbul’s
Sabiha Gökçen Airport, the country’s second busiest airport, and the
northwestern industrial province of Bursa will be less than an hour.