The work on the new Istanbul mega project, the three-level Big Istanbul Tunnel, which will contain both a metro line and dual motorway planned to be used by 6.5 million people a day, has started. The route of the tunnel will be determined in the first stage, it was announced Friday. The ground survey vessel Fugro Scout started ground survey work for the Big Istanbul Tunnel in the Bosphorus Friday. It was also announced that the Fugro Scout, which is 84 meters long and 20 meters wide, will stay in the Bosphorus for "a long time." After drilling, the exact route of the tunnel will be determined. The project is included in the 2023 Transportation Project to help lighten Istanbul's busy traffic. The project combines the "fast metro tunnel project," which will start from Bakırköy-İncirli on the E5 axis and reach Söğütlüçeşme, similar to the Marmaray and the "highway tunnel" with 2x2 lines similar to the Eurasia Tunnel located on the TEM highway axis in order to decrease the traffic on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the second bridge on the Bosporus.
Instead of separate tunnels, one tunnel will be built for both metro and dual highway Bosporus crossing. The tunnel will enable faster and cheaper transportation between the two sides of Istanbul. It will integrate nine different urban train systems with a fast metro track, which is used approximately by 6.5 million passengers on a daily basis. It will also enable easier and faster connections to ring roads, connecting all main arterials.
The sub-sea tunnel will be constructed with a build-operate-transfer model. The tunnel, which is estimated to cost $3.5 billion, is expected to be finished in five years.
The fast metro line will enable 40-minute travel from İncirli to Söğütlüçeşme and a 14-minute journey by car from the Hasdal crossroads to the Ümraniye Çamlık crossroad. The highways will connect to the third airport, currently under construction, and the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the third bridge on the Bosporus as well as the North Marmara Highway, TEM and D100 (E5) Highway. The tunnel will integrate local metro lines including Başakşehir-Bağcılar-Bakırköy Metro, Yenikapı-Aksaray-Airport Metro, Kabataş-Bağcılar Tram, Topkapı-Sultançifliği Light Metro, Mahmutbey-Mecidiyeköy Metro, Yenikapı-Hacıosman Metro (Taksim Metro), Üsküdar-Ümraniye-Çekmeköy-Sancaktepe Metro, Kadıköy-Kartal Metro, Marmaray, Istanbul's first sub-sea tunnel train under the Bosporus, and Suburban train lines.