YSS Otoyol İşletme

The Bridge of Firsts
YSS

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which has been operated since 2016 by Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Northern Ring Motorway Operation (ICA), a subsidiary of IC Infrastructure Group, is the third bridge over the Istanbul Bosphorus and is also among the world’s most distinguished engineering works.

With a width of 59 meters, it is one of the widest bridges in the world, and with a tower height of 322 meters, it is also one of the tallest bridges in the world. The bridge, which allows both highway and railway crossings simultaneously, is a world first with this feature.

The bridge, operated by Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Northern Ring Motorway Operation, and forming the most important part of the Northern Ring Motorway connecting Asia and Europe, helps reduce Istanbul’s traffic load, eases urban transportation, and provides significant savings in time and fuel.

The Northern Ring Motorway provides uninterrupted, safe, and comfortable transportation from the west to the east of Istanbul, while contributing to environmental protection and sustainable transportation goals by diverting transit freight traffic away from the city center.

icon-bridge

59 m

Single segment deck weight

900 ton

The suspension bridge with the tallest towers in the world

322 m

The world’s longest suspension bridge carrying a rail system

1.408 m

The bridge, with a total length of 2,164 meters, has a main span of 1,408 meters. With this feature, it holds the title of the world’s longest suspension bridge carrying a rail system. The bridge has 4 lanes in each direction for highway traffic and a central railway line with one track in each direction.

The bridge, with a total length of 2,164 meters, has a main span of 1,408 meters. With this feature, it holds the title of the world’s longest suspension bridge carrying a rail system. The bridge has 4 lanes in each direction for highway traffic and a central railway line with one track in each direction.

Designed structurally as a “hybrid bridge,” the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge combines suspension bridge and cable-stayed bridge systems. Its load-bearing cables, reinforced with 124,832 kilometers of steel wire, are long enough to circle the Earth three times.

With a main span deck area of 83,072 m², the bridge covers a space equivalent to 10 football fields; with a single segment weighing 900 tons, it represents a massive engineering achievement equivalent to the weight of approximately four passenger aircraft.

Connected to a 400-kilometer motorway network via the Northern Ring Motorway, the bridge plays a unique role in Türkiye’s transportation infrastructure with 13 toll plazas, 2 chemical control points, 8 free-flow toll points, 11 motorway service facilities (Bi’Mola), 9 Bi’Enerji facilities, 57 underpasses and overpasses, 39 viaducts, and 29 interchanges.

Today, Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Northern Ring Motorway stand out not only as a transportation route but also as one of Türkiye’s prestigious projects with its engineering excellence, environmental sensitivity, and strategic importance.

Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge