Haliç Bridge

The Halic Bridge is the middle one of the four crossings over the Golden Horn, carrying the O-1 motorway through the European side of Istanbul. It opened in 1974 as the elevated link of the western ring road, designed to pull heavy and long-distance traffic away from the historic peninsula. The span runs between the districts of Halicioglu and Sutluce and now carries around 200,000 vehicles a day. In 2014 the matching Halic Metro Bridge, a striking modern cable-stayed structure for the M2 line, opened on a parallel alignment. Bus passengers heading to Eyup, or ferry riders crossing the Horn, see the two bridges side by side; the motorway itself is not open to pedestrians.