Turkey to build waterway to bypass Bosphorus Straits

[Pete]

Turkey to build waterway to bypass Bosphorus Straits

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13207304

"Turkey will build a new waterway to bypass the heavily congested Bosphorus Strait, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.

He said the 150m-wide (492ft) "Canal Istanbul" would link the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara that opens to the Aegean Sea via the Dardanelles.

Mr Erdogan said the canal would be about 45km-long (31 miles), describing it as "the greatest project of the century".

He did not disclose the exact location.............."

Hmmm, that is going to be some ditch.

But the question is "Is it needed?"

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/bosporus.htm

[akv]

Agreed, that's a lot of work. Based on the link above if their traffic flow through the Bosphorus is near 2005 levels thats 150 ships a day, roughly 10% of which are oil tankers crowding through a relatively narrow heavily populated area on either shore. The Turkish economy is one of the few thats growing, possibly because they and Qatar are among the few Islamic nations who have to work for their economy, instead of sitting around getting paid for oil under their soil. At this point Russia's economy is all oil exports, and it seems the Turks are anticipating increased economic growth and trade. I am curious what hazardous materials Erdogan was referring too. Strategically, going forward they would have two straits to defend, since their enemies have been trying to force the Bosphorus for centuries, as the English tried in WW1.