Turkey earns over $318M in bridge, highway tolls

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Turkey earned over 1.11 billion Turkish liras ($318.2 million) from tolls collected at its two bridges over the Istanbul Strait and linked roads in the 11 months of 2016, according to the country’s highway directorate on Tuesday.

The July 15 Martyrs' Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, both of which are over the Bosphorus connecting Europe to Asia, yielded around 268.3 million liras ($76.65 million), while the highways earned 845.35 million Turkish liras ($241.5 million), according to data released by the Turkish Highways Directorate.

The figures indicate that around 386.3 million vehicles paid tolls in the period. Drivers in Turkey paid 4.75 Turkish liras ($1.36) for the bridge tolls, with higher fees for vehicles with more than two axles.

This November, over 33.5 million vehicles used Turkey’s toll bridges and toll roads, paying a total of nearly 100 million Turkish liras ($28.5 million).

Last year, 412.4 million vehicles used the toll bridges and roads in Turkey, paying 880.2 million Turkish liras ($290.4 million). The bridge toll at that time was 4.25 Turkish liras ($1.21) per passage.