Astaldi builds world's largest suspension bridge in Turkey

(AGI) Rome, Aug 23 - The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the third bridge on the Bosphorus and the widest suspension bridge in the world, will be inaugurated on Friday, Aug. 26 in Istanbul by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Ministry of Transport announced. The bridge is 1.4 km long and 59 metres wide, and was completed early by the Italian group Astaldi in joint venture with the Turkish company Ic Ictas. The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge supports and eight-lane highway and two railway lines connecting Anatolia with the Marmara region. The bridge's rail system will link up with the Marmaray and Istanbul metro lines to connect the two international airports of Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen with the third airport. The bridge was designed by Swiss T-Engineering in collaboration with the renowned "bridge master" Michel Virlogeux. Virlogeux also designed the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon, one of the longest in Europe, and the Pont de Normandie in France, which was the longest suspension bridge in the world till 1999. The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge also boasts a 322 metre tower, the tallest ever built on a suspension bridge. (AGI). .