Video: In 2016 the new undersea road tunnel in Istanbul

An ultra-modern underwater road tunnel in Istanbul is taking place and it will be launched in late 2016.

An ultra-modern underwater road tunnel in Istanbul is taking place and it will be launched in late 2016.

The tunnel Eurasia (Avrasya Tuneli) will connect Kazl?çe?me on the European and Göztepe on the Asian part of Istanbul on a 14.6 km route.

This project will be the first undersea tunnel in the world that unites two continents and it will have a total length of 5.4 km, of which 3.3 km will be underwater, while the deepest point of the tunnel will be 106 meters and is designed to withstand an earthquake with magnitude 7.5 degrees. The two continents are already connected underwater to Marmaray, the underwater tunnel through which railways of Istanbul pass.

Designed for private vehicles and minibuses (but not for large buses), the tunnel will allow vehicles to pass through the tunnel in just 15 minutes. As calculated by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the drivers will save about 85 minutes by using this tunnel.

The tolls will cost four euros per transit for private vehicles and seven euros for minibuses.

However, there are those who do not like the construction of the new tunnel. They think that a new tunnel which is designed for cars will not be able to solve the problem. In contrast, it will make things worse.

This view has director of Embarq Turkey, a research company oriented to ecological environmental applications."More car-centric infrastructure means encouraging city dwellers to buy new cars or to use their existing ones," said Arzu Tekir, director of Embarq Turkey, a research organisation focusing on sustainable city development. "Instead of doing that, the city should invest in smart technologies, open data and low-carbon solutions."

Watch the video provided under media below!