Is there anyone left in Istanbul who doesn't think we need a third bridge over the Bosphorus? Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim has said that people who are calling for a third bridge not to be built over the Bosphorus are treating Istanbul unfairly. But from his statements, it is clear that Yildirim has not actually read of the great volume of debate on this matter. He seems to think that objections to the plans for another bridge are actually based on the idea of a third bridge itself. But no, that's not it. In fact, everyone knows that two bridges crossing the Bosphorus are not enough for as enormous of a city as Istanbul actually is.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/7725948.asp?gid=74&sz=74470

IMHO building a 3rd bridge across the Bosphorus is a waste of money, will be a huge blow to the environment and will not solve the traffic problem at all.

The problem of traffic is more that just cars. The infrastructure of Istanbul's road is absolutely BOZUK ! I have never known such an unorganised plan of roads usage. Half the city roads are one-way, almost all the traffic lights are not sycronised to function practically, there is no control on traffic - ie traffice police that actually do some work ! controlling people who block traffic junctions on red lights and then hold up the flow of traffic, stopping the thousands of people who double park on city centre roads, holding up traffic etc.... The bus systems is not large enough, the trains are unsafe.

The solution is better, safer, cleaner public transport, a re-organisation of road usage, policemen that actually do their job on the roads, more punishment on crazy drivers who cause accidents EVERYDAY and that holds up traffic for hours.

A third bridge will not solve any problems, people will simply drive more cars as the population of this city grows to exploding point.

So I do not think Istanbul needs a 3rd bridge. We need an initiative to get people to car-pool (share cars on work journeys to the same place of work) look around you when you are in your car or on the bus and you will see that almost every car around you has only the driver in it. People and companies that organise their workers to share car journeys should receive money towards car-parking tickets.

Oh I could go on and on but this has become an essay.

NO THRID BRIDGE PLEASE !!!!!!

Many of Istanbul's problems have their roots in the Ottoman era. The Ottomans decorated the city with great mosques and monuments but they simply did not have the first idea about how to run a mega city like Istanbul. From this point of view, Istanbul was a first time experience for the Ottomans hence all the careless disregard of infrastructure needs.

We Turks laughed at the idea of knocking on every door and enumerating the household. As there was no sound statical data to base city's administration on, no plans were ever made to get the city ready for next generations.

Having said this, Istanbul had a legendary beauty under Ottomans. It was smaller, greener and cleaner. Countless stories of dreamlike childhoods spent in the water-front mansions of Bosporus went into hundreds of books. Each one of those stories were depicting a heavenly city that gave joy to those who lived in it. Many poets dedicated some of their best poems to Istanbul. One of them goes like this:

"If my heart did not belong to Istanbul
How would it know what love is"

Today, we are talking about Istanbul as a city... It has long lost its magic... If you filled the Bosporus with 100 bridges that wouldn't make the slightest difference to its people.

The real problem is that the people living in Istanbul do not belong to Istanbul nor does Istanbul to them.

Akin, what do you mean by your statement they don't "belong" there. What about families that have been there for several generations?

i think you are being too romantic. Istanbul absolutely need one more bridge whether you like it or not.People who live in asia side and work in europe side waste their hours on bridges and bridge's roads every morning and evening. yes i agree people should be more respectful to eachother in traffic and yes most of people in istanbul dont belong to istanbul.but saying these is not a solution. the fact is population of istanbul is over 15 million and it is increasing each day. and we need more roads. and also we need more subway lines

i dont think other big cities like New York or London are different to istanbul.

I am talking about millions of people who live in Istanbul the way they would in their villages. Istanbul saw the most horrible kind of rapid urbanization beginning from 50's.

Remaking Istanbul - infrastructure - the controversies over the relative merits of construction, restoration, conservation and development go on, running as deep as ever
old article from the year 1990
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199004/remaking.istanbul.htm



Rapid growth has imposed enormous pressures on the city’s services and infrastructure. Long-range planning has been difficult as politicians and planners have tried to cope with the immediate needs of a rapidly growing population. Traffic congestion, lack of services, loss of amenities and open space, water shortages, and air pollution are all too familiar “costs” of rapid urbanization to Istanbulis. Since the 1980s there has been massive investment in an effort to catch up with growth by expanding and modernizing the city’s infrastructure. The goal has been not just to meet the basic needs of the population but, as in the nineteenth century, to revitalize the city, and in the process to re-establish the city as a great international center for trade and commerce. Once again, there has been a strong focus on the physical infrastructure and appearance of the city: new bridges, motorways and inner-city arterials to improve the flow of traffic; a modern wastewater system to clean up the waters of the Golden Horn; a natural gas network to reduce the use of more polluting coal and lignite; and the removal of industries and dilapidated warehouses from along the shoreline of the Golden Horn to make way for parks and open space. These efforts to renovate the urban fabric have not been without controversy. The “greening” of the Golden Horn involved the clearance of older neighborhoods; the creation of an inner-city freeway required the demolition of large sections of Beyoglu; the new highway along the Bosphorus cut off the older villages from their natural links with the water. And in the process of modernization and improvement, some of the social and economic inequalities have become more visibly entrenched in the urban landscape. Thus the deluxe hotels and conference centers and the luxury villas along the Bosphorus stand in sharp contrast to the generic blocks of apartments and the temporary housing and unpaved roads of the newer gecekondus