Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made a statement about the ongoing works in the Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Section of the Çeşmeli-Erdemli-Silifke-Taşucu Highway. Minister Uraloğlu stated that the Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Section is 52 kilometers long, including 41 kilometers of highway and 11 kilometers of connection road, and said, "Within the scope of our project, we are building 6 intersections, 7 tunnels with a total length of 10 thousand 116 meters and 5 viaducts of 1633 meters. In addition, 33 bridges and overpasses with a length of 2 thousand 734 meters, 34 underpasses with a length of 3 thousand 655 meters and 10 thousand bridges" “There will be 74 culverts with a length of 108 meters.” he said.
Uraloğlu stated that within the scope of the project, 2 highway service facilities, a maintenance operation center and a tunnel operation center will also be established.
Emphasizing that the Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Section will provide a significant solution to the traffic load that intensifies especially in the summer months, Uraloğlu said, "We will transfer a significant part of the transit traffic on the existing state road to the highway. Thus, we will reduce the travel time from up to 2.5 hours to 18 minutes in the summer months." he said.
Drawing attention to the economic and environmental gains of the project, Uraloğlu said, "We will save a total of 3 billion 38 million liras, including 2.7 billion liras from time and 338 million liras from fuel. We will also reduce carbon emissions by 17 thousand 100 tons per year." He made a statement.
MERSİN'S TOURISM CENTERS WILL BE CONNECTED TO THE HIGHWAY NETWORK
Uraloğlu stated that the project will significantly ease transportation in the coastal areas of Mersin, one of the important tourism centers of the Mediterranean Region, and said, "We will provide uninterrupted and high-standard transportation by connecting the tourism regions of Mersin to the operating Mersin-Adana-Gaziantep Highway. We will allow transit traffic on the D400 Antalya-Mersin and D715 Konya-Mersin state roads to reach the highway network without entering the city centers." he said.
Uraloğlu stated that the highway will also facilitate access to Çukurova International Airport and that the project will contribute to the development of tourism, industry and agricultural production in the region.
Emphasizing that the project is also of strategic importance in terms of Turkey's international transportation corridors, Uraloğlu said, "Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Highway will provide significant infrastructure support to the highway leg of the Development Road by strengthening the connections between Mersin's ports, production centers and the existing highway network. With our project, which is a continuation of the Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep Highway open to traffic, we will also strengthen the uninterrupted highway connection on the Mersin-Adana-Gaziantep-Şanlıurfa axis." he said.
Uraloğlu stated that the highway connection will extend to Taşucu with the completion of the Kızkalesi-Taşucu Section, which is planned to be built in the next stage, and said, "We will strengthen the access of Taşucu Port to the main highway network. Thus, we will contribute to reducing the density on Mersin Port and increase the effectiveness of Taşucu Port within the logistics system." he said.
Noting that agricultural products, especially early-season vegetables, fruits and citrus fruits grown in the region, will be delivered to large consumption centers such as Ankara and Istanbul in a shorter time, Uraloğlu stated that the highway will also strengthen the logistics chain extending from production centers to ports and domestic markets.
98 PERCENT LEVEL HAS BEEN REACHED
Providing information about the stage of the work on the Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Highway, Uraloğlu stated that the construction works in the project are at the completion stage and said, "As of today, we have reached the 98 percent physical realization level of our project in general." he said.
