Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, reminding that they started the works to extend the portal serving in the Ankara-Istanbul direction of the Bolu Mountain Tunnel in the Kaynaşlı direction on July 31, said, “We aim to complete our works, which we planned to take 50 days, on September 19. We renewed 3 meters of the 500-meter concrete guardrails in the central reservation and the entire protection network between the viaducts, which is 2 square meters in total.” Minister Uraloğlu noted that with these works, they will ensure that the tube serving in the Istanbul direction of the Bolu Tunnel will be extended by 800 meters and that they will maximize transportation safety against possible landslides in the region.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu examined the ongoing works on the Anatolian Motorway Bolu Mountain Tunnel on site. In his statement here, Uraloğlu stated that after the landslide that occurred in 2022 in the Bolu Mountain Tunnel location of the Anatolian Motorway connecting Ankara and Istanbul, they decided to extend both tubes of the tunnel in the direction of Kaynaşlı. He reminded that as the first leg of the works carried out within this scope, they opened the tube providing transportation in the Istanbul-Ankara direction by extending it by 2023 meters in 90 and said that they started the extension works of the tunnel portal serving in the Ankara-Istanbul direction within the scope of the second leg of the works on July 31, a month ago. Minister Uraloğlu said, “We aim to complete our works, which we planned to take 50 days, on September 19 and we are successfully continuing our works in accordance with our plans.”
Providing information about the ongoing works in the Bolu Mountain Tunnel, Minister Uraloğlu reported that they completed the reinforced concrete foundation manufacturing of the tunnel portal and made 67 meters of progress in the 32-meter steel structure manufacturing of the tunnel within the scope of the project. Stating that they completed the 256-meter long bored pile manufacturing, Uraloğlu said, “We also completed the welding works in 4 of the 3 viaduct expansion joints that we planned to replace and poured their concrete. We continue the welding works in the 4th joint. These joints were very valuable for both the structure and traffic safety. In the past, there were repairs that we made by narrowing the lanes, and we will eliminate them as well. In addition, we have completed approximately 3 thousand meters of the 500-meter concrete auto guardrails in the central reservation and the entire protection network between the viaducts, which is 3 square meters in total. With these works, we will ensure that the tube of the Bolu Tunnel serving in the direction of Istanbul will be extended by 19 meters. "Thus, we will have maximized transportation safety against possible landslides that may occur in the region."
“We are preventing any possible landslides from negatively affecting transportation”
Uraloğlu, who stated that they temporarily transferred traffic in the direction of Istanbul to the D-23 State Road on the 100-kilometer section between the Abant and Kaynaşlı Junctions of the Anatolian Motorway due to the work carried out, said that traffic was heavy on the Bolu Mountain section of the D-100 highway. Noting that vehicle congestion occurred in the Abant Junction, Elmalık, Bolu Mountain Police House, Bakacak, Karanlıkdere, and Kaynaşlı sections, Uraloğlu said, “But this is a short-term problem that we have to deal with. As you know, unfortunately, in recent years, we have been experiencing rainfall well above seasonal norms due to climate change and are exposed to negative effects such as floods and landslides. Climate change and the problems it causes have now become a common issue for humanity. If you recall, we experienced the negative effects of heavy rainfall in almost the entire Black Sea Region in July of last year. As we also expressed back then; we said that we would increase our precautions to minimize possible negativities by making more radical decisions. "After these works in the Bolu Mountain tunnel, we will not experience any of the negative situations we have experienced before in this section during a possible heavy rain period. By extending the tunnel portal of the tube providing transportation in the Ankara direction by 90 meters and the tunnel portal in the Istanbul direction, which is currently under construction, by 67 meters; we are preventing a possible landslide from negatively affecting transportation," he said.
“We had limited the use of heavy vehicles on the D-100 State Road and the Anatolian Motorway, and this practice will continue on September 1st.”
Underlining that the congestion on the D-100 road is temporary, Uraloğlu said that they plan to complete the work very soon, on September 19. Emphasizing that there will be no more traffic interruptions due to such reasons at the Bolu Mountain crossing when the work is completed, Uraloğlu said, “Currently, in order to reduce the congestion at the Bolu Mountain crossing especially on Sundays, we had limited the use of heavy vehicles on the D-18 State Road and the Anatolian Motorway on Sundays, August 25th and 100th. We will continue this practice on Sunday, September 1, 2024, tomorrow. With the inspections we will carry out between 14.00:23.00 and 100:XNUMX, we will limit the use of heavy vehicle traffic on the state road and highway in the Ankara-Istanbul direction. The restriction will be carried out from the exit points of the city on the Ankara side; and from the Karabük Junction on the Black Sea side. During this process, we will provide heavy vehicle traffic via the Ankara Beypazarı-Nallıhan-Mudurnu-Akyazı route. Of course, all drivers of vehicles except heavy vehicles can use this road as an alternative route. Drivers of vehicles except heavy vehicles who prefer the Anatolian Motorway and Ankara-Bolu State Road in the Ankara-Istanbul direction can prefer the Bolu-Mudurnu-Akyazı axis as an alternative to the D-XNUMX State Road at the Bolu Mountain pass.”
Alternative Routes Should Be Considered
At this point, Minister Uraloğlu asked drivers to consider these issues when making their travel plans during the 19-day period until the work is completed, and recommended that alternative routes be evaluated. Uraloğlu said, “Of course, we expect them to comply with the traffic signs and markers in the sections where work is being done for their safety. With these thoughts, I would like to thank all my highway colleagues, the Bolu Governorship and the police department for their successful work on the Anatolian Highway Bolu Mountain Tunnel.”
