A bridge or tunnel too far perhaps … but as is my wont – I need(ed) a filler post … so coming from a bridge (civil) engineering family …
When I saw that the Marmaray Tunnel – beneath the Bosporus Strait, Istanbul … linking Europe with Asia … had been built … my grandfather's firm of structural engineers had been contracted for the Bridge across the Bosphorus … opened in 1973. I was taken aback …
Their logo
As I'm no engineer my uncle and I would have brief discussions about engineering projects – particularly when we met out in South Africa … but he died in 1997.
Bakirkoy - where the trains meet
The tunnel had passed me by … opened in 2013 just after my mother died, so perhaps understandable I hadn't 'twigged' … as the deepest immersed tube tunnel in the world.
Bosphorus Strait ... dotted
red lines indicate tunnel project
The construction originally mooted in 1860 … obviously not much happened – 130 years later! … preparatory work was able to commence.
As is usual archaeological discoveries held the work up somewhat … still unearthing our history enlightens us … in this instance from the Byzantine-era and other 8,000 year old archaeological finds …
East Mediterranean/West Asia
showing the various plates, including
in the north the North Anatolian Plate
The other part I enjoy learning about is the geology of the area … somewhat to my surprise – the tunnel is only 18 kilometres (11 miles) away from the active North Anatolian Fault:
Tectonic Plates
Since AD 342, it has seen large earthquakes that claimed many thousands of lives. It is expected that there could be a major earthquake in that area fairly soon …
Most of humanity lives through these eruptions, while others lose their lives … perhaps to be discovered at a later date, and then provide new information of eras past …
Simpler map for info
Some basic facts about the Strait …
It connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea – it is an international waterway …
Length about 19 miles
Width between 0.45 miles – 2.05 miles
Maximum depth of 110 metres (360 feet)
Heavy traffic … 48,000 ships annually … reportedly three and four times denser than the traffic that used to go through (but due to war/drought) in the Suez Canal and Panama Canal; this traffic has also reduced due to restrictions placed on night-time transit of large oil tankers.
My filler got longer than necessary … but those rabbit holes became tunnels or bridges … letting us travel around and learn …
The Bosphorus Bridge
But where Jumping Jelly Beans came from ... I've no idea?!
Links if you wish to look further …
Marmaray Tunnel ...
Marmaray - the portmanteau word for this commuter rail project ...
Bosphorus facts from Marine Insight ...
BUT I almost forgot why this post got written – I found this fascinating interactive image – just click it … it's brilliant – just check it out please …
Bridges schematically shown from Trajan's Roman Bridge, to the Ponte Vecchio, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and many more … see here:
1915 Canakkale Bridge ... see comparison of notable bridges at end of this link ...
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