According to the information received, over 77 million vehicles have used the Eurasia Tunnel in the 5 years since its opening.
It has been 5 years since the opening of the Eurasia Tunnel, which connects the continent of Asia and Europe by land under the seabed, and was put into service with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and many foreign guests.
The tunnel, which was implemented with the aim of producing a radical solution to the transportation problem of Istanbul and reducing the distance between the two sides of Istanbul to 15 minutes, contributed to the relief of traffic in the region as an alternative to the Bosphorus crossings between the European and Anatolian sides.
The 5.4-kilometer section of the tunnel, which is the product of advanced design, technology and engineering applications, was built 106 meters below the sea with a special method.
Serving on the Kazlicesme-Goztepe line, where vehicle traffic is heavy in Istanbul, and covering a total of 14.6 kilometers, the tunnel has shortened the journey time of my travelers in Istanbul in the past 5 years, while providing many economic and environmental benefits to the city.
A safe and uninterrupted traffic flow service is provided 24 hours a day in the Eurasia Tunnel, which provides safe, fast, comfortable, economical and environmentally friendly transportation, contributing to the reduction of environmental and noise pollution, and fuel savings.
The tunnel, which reduces the travel time between Bakirkoy and Goztepe from 100 minutes to 15 minutes, also draws attention with its feature that will not be affected by earthquake and tsunami risks.
DAILY NUMBER OF VEHICLES REACHED 53.5 THOUSANDS
According to the information received from the Eurasia Tunnel officials, the tunnel, which started to serve 5 years ago, has been used by more than 77 million vehicles in the intervening period.
As of November, the average daily number of vehicles using the tunnel reached 53,494. The highest daily number of vehicles seen since the first day (on July 22, 2019) was recorded as 79 thousand 495 units. The days with the heaviest traffic in the tunnel were recorded as Thursday.
Cars made up 93% of the vehicles that used the tunnel, which worked at full capacity during peak traffic hours, and minibuses made up 7%. 51.4% of the vehicles passing through the tunnel traveled from Europe to Asia, 48.6% from Asia to Europe.
If the epidemic did not occur, it was expected that the traffic would reach the level of guarantee by the end of this year. However, the number of daily usage on weekdays managed to exceed 60 thousand levels.
135 MILLION HOURS OF TIME SAVED IN 5 YEARS
The tunnel, which enabled the efficient use of resources in the intervening 5 years, contributed to cost and energy savings, improvement of service delivery and quality of life, and reduction of environmental pollution.
When the fuel, emission and accident costs are added to the users’ time savings of 1 hour per day, Tunnel provided an average of ₺137 savings in daily two-way trips.
With the use of the Eurasia Tunnel, it was calculated that 135 million hours of time were saved in 5 years and 75 thousand tons of emission reduction was achieved. With an emission reduction of 75 thousand tons (considering that a tree absorbs 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year), the task that approximately 3 million trees would undertake was saved.
Thanks to the project, a total of 188,000 tons of fuel was saved in 5 years. In bidirectional use, drivers were offered an average of 2 tanks of fuel savings per month.
Thanks to the Eurasia Tunnel, it was calculated that 3 fatal, 140 injured and 489 property damage accidents were prevented in 2021.
SHARE OF 13% IN BOSPHORUS CROSSINGS
The Eurasia Tunnel, which has a share of 13% in the highway traffic of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, shortened the travel distance by an average of 10 kilometers, especially in the journeys made in the south of Istanbul.
On the European side, the pedestrian band between the city and the sea was increased from 55 meters to 277 meters, making it easier for Istanbul residents to access the coastline. 11,642 new trees were planted within the framework of the improvement of the coastal park on the European Side. 7 kilometers of bicycle paths and pedestrian paths were built, playgrounds and exercise areas were renewed.
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz