The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge ("Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror Bridge"; Turkish: Fatih Sultan Mehmet Köprüsü, abbreviated as F.S.M. Köprüsü), also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge (İkinci Köprü), is a bridge in Istanbul, Turkey spanning the Bosphorusstrait (Turkish: Boğaziçi). When completed in 1988, it was the 5th-longest suspension bridge span in the world.
The bridge is situated between Istanbul Hisarüstü (European side) and Kavacık (Asian side). It is a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with steel pylons and vertical hangers. The aerodynamic deck hangs on double vertical steel cables. It is 1,510 m long with a deck width of 39 m. The distance between the towers (main span) is 1,090 m and their height over the road level is 105 m. The clearance of the bridge from sea level is 64 m.[2]
The bridge is on the Trans-European Motorway between Edirne and Ankara. The highway bridge has four lanes for vehicular traffic plus one emergency lane in each direction. On weekday mornings, commuter traffic flows mostly westbound to the European part, so five of the eight lanes run westbound and only three eastbound. Conversely, on weekday evenings, five lanes are dedicated to eastbound traffic and three lanes, to westbound traffic. Pedestrians are not allowed to use the bridge. Currently, around 150,000 vehicles pass daily in both directions; almost 70% are automobiles.
Fatih Sultan Mehmet is a toll bridge, but payment is required only from vehicles traveling to Asia (as in the First Bosphorus Bridge, no payment is required while passing from Asia to Europe.) Since April 2008, cash payments are no longer accepted, having been replaced by a remote payment system. As of the OGS systems retirement on March 31, 2022, HGS is the only way to access the bridge.
A HGS sticker can be obtained at various stations before the toll plaza of highways and bridges.[7]
As of 2024 the toll fee is 15 to 110 Turkish lira, depending on the type of vehicle.[8]
Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and the skyscrapers of Levent (left) and Maslak (right) business districts
^"30 Mayıs 1985". Milliyet Gazete Arşivi (English: Milliyet Newspaper Archive) (in Turkish). 1985-05-30. Archived from the original on 2011-05-08. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
^ ab"4 Temmuz 1988". Milliyet Gazete Arşivi (English: Milliyet Newspaper Archive) (in Turkish). 1988-07-04. Archived from the original on 2024-03-18. Retrieved 2024-03-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Şirket Profili" [Company Profile]. Bosphorus Technical Consulting Corporation (in Turkish). 2010-10-30. Archived from the original on 2010-10-30. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
O-2 (a part of the Trans-European Motorways)
Media related to Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge at Wikimedia Commons
