Often when I see an elderly person I wonder if they were born in İstanbul and what they think of their city now.Aziz Nesin, a Turkish humorist and author, was born in 1915 on Heybeliada during the Ottoman Empire and died in 1985. Nesin knew his way around town. I am sure he had many fond memories of the old İstanbul ferryboats and his commutes from the islands. Commuters got to know each other -- they knew who sat where. Gone are those days!
İstanbul faces major problems in urban mobility. You’ve probably seen some articles and arguments about a third bridge.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people’s lives. On their Web site they state that their mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect the Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Perhaps they would have some suggestions on traffic congestion…
We all know that the world faces serious global threats such as deforestation, desertification, and global climate change. Turkey not only faces these threats but problems of urban congestion, pollution and transport. Here’s an excerpt of a note that hits the nail on the head.
Dear Charlotte, my wife and I have visited Turkey twice. We enjoyed three wonderful weeks in Turkey in 1985, traveling nearly 2,000 miles in a rental car. We fell in love with the friendly people. The only thing we disliked when we returned this past year to revisit the places and our friends were the roads and traffic jams. Horrendous! I used to think a traffic jam on the loop in St. Louis was bad! Why don’t they build a third bridge? How do people tolerate the traffic and roads in İstanbul? From, Lee and Melinda (Missouri).
Dear Lee and Melinda, I came across a comment by Aslıhan Ünaldı on her blog on the WRI blog page where she sheds a little insight on Aziz Nesin’s humor in his later years. It is taken from an interview in 1992 that he gave. I think it sums up many of our feelings about the traffic problem in İstanbul.
“A man jumps into a taxi, he’s in a great hurry, but the road’s jammed with traffic. “Hey!” he shouts to the driver, “Can’t you go a bit faster?” The driver looks back at him out of the corner of his eye. “Of course we can go faster,” he says, “But what are we going to do about the car?”
The $10,000 question is: Will a third bridge over the Bosporus help solve İstanbul’s traffic plight?
How do you tolerate the traffic and roads in İstanbul? Can’t we go a bit faster? I am sure I will get a few replies from readers in Ankara telling me this is why they moved there!
For Today’s Zaman readers who do not know much about the problem: İstanbul has two toll bridges connecting Europe and Asia. The first one is the Bosporus Bridge and spans between Beylerbeyi and Ortaköy, while the other one is the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and spans between Kanlıca and Rumeli Hisarı.
To help us go a bit faster a decision was made a while ago that intercity buses and trucks are not allowed on the first bridge at any time and that they can use the second bridge at all times except between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Automatic toll pay systems were also introduced to speed up traffic flow. Has it really made a big difference?
Did you know that the Galata Bridge, built in 1912 by the Germans for about 350,000 gold lira, was the fourth in that location? Of course, since 1992, this floating bridge, familiar to many of us, is in disuse further up the Golden Horn. I wonder what Mürvet Teyze and her friends and Aziz Nesin thought about this bridge and all the controversy back then in the early 1900s.
While the number of cars rapidly increases on the road, discussions -- probably about conflicts over profit and expenses, disturbing green areas and deficiencies in urban planning -- continue.
Have they reached a deadlock over building a third Bosporus bridge?
Have you heard that some argue that a third bridge is already late in coming? Maybe it is better late than never! What do you think? Something needs to be done and quick! The problem is it won’t be quick.
“Investing in our rural roadways and bridges is more than just investing in concrete and steel; it is also an investment in our future.”
-- Kit Bond (US senator)
