The Aydın-Denizli Highway, which provides fast and comfortable transportation from Denizli to Aydın and İzmir, was officially opened with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, General Director of Highways Ahmet Gülşen and many guests attended the ceremony.
“We are expanding our road network between our regions a little more”
Stating that diversifying highway connections between cities and reducing travel times are among his top priorities, President Erdoğan said, “We have significantly strengthened the transportation infrastructure of our region, which is one of the main routes for commercial and touristic traffic, with the Istanbul-Izmir Highway and the Izmir-Aydın Highway that we have previously put into service. With the Aydın-Denizli Highway that we have officially opened today, we are expanding our highway network between the Aegean, Mediterranean and Central Anatolia regions a little more.”
Providing technical information about the highway, Erdoğan said: “Our Aydın-Denizli highway, which consists of a total of 3 lanes, 3 kilometers of main road with 6 lanes in each direction and 140 kilometers of connection road with 2 lanes in each direction, has a total length of 2 kilometers. The highway includes 23 bridges with a length of 163 meters, 5 interchanges, 712 viaducts with a total length of 61 meters, 19 overpasses, 11 underpasses and 622 highway service facilities.”
“We are officially offering all sections of the highway for the use of our entire Aegean Region, including Aydın.”
Reminding that they opened the 93-kilometer section of the highway between Kuyucak Junction and Kocabaş Junction to traffic on November 3, 2023, our President said, “We put the 70-kilometer section starting from the Aydın Ring Road and ending at the Kuyucak Junction into service on October 17, 2024. The first stage of the highway route, which was opened to traffic on November 3, 2023, started from Kocabaş, passed through Pamukkale, Kumkısık, Sarayköy and Buharkent, and reached Kuyucak. The second stage, which was opened on October 17, started from Kuyucak, passed through Nazilli, Yenipazar and Köşk districts, and ended in Aydın. Now we are officially offering all sections of the highway to the benefit of Aydın and the entire Aegean Region.”
Annual Savings of 7,4 Billion Liras
Erdoğan stated that the travel time, which used to be 2 hours, has been reduced to less than 1 hour with the opening of the highway, and said, “The 220-kilometer highway crossing time between the Denizli Western Beltway Junction and the Izmir Center Port Junction has been reduced to 1 hour and 40 minutes. The travel time from Aydın to Denizli and from Izmir to Denizli via the state road have become equal. Thus, we will save 6,4 billion liras in time and 1 billion liras in fuel, for a total of 7,4 billion liras per year. We will have reduced carbon emissions by 61 tons.”
“Our Aydın-Denizli Highway will increase investments in the region in the tourism sector”
Erdoğan, who stated that they are proud to have implemented an uninterrupted highway network starting from Kapıkule, passing through Istanbul and the Marmara and Aegean Regions and reaching the Mediterranean with the completion of the project, continued his speech as follows: “Road means civilization. Road means transportation, industry, production, tourism, culture, safety, development. Road means integration with the regional and global economy. None of these can happen without a road. The same applies to the Aydın-Denizli Highway. With the opening of the highway, our industrial and agricultural products will be transported to İzmir and Aliağa Port, the most important export centers of the region, via Denizli, in a much shorter time. Our Aydın-Denizli Highway will increase investments made to the region in the tourism sector, pioneer the opening of new tourism facilities and thus allow more time to be spent in touristic areas, which will also increase our tourism revenues. Our Aydın-Denizli Highway will increase investments made to the region in the tourism sector.”
“Our highway will be a lifeline for our region’s economy”
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Uraloğlu stated that they will increase the divided road network of 29 kilometers to 730 kilometers in 2025 and the length of hot bituminous mixed coated roads to 30 kilometers. Stating that Aydın and Denizli provinces are cities that serve as important bridges between the Aegean, Mediterranean and Central Anatolia, where ancient trade routes intersect, Uraloğlu noted that the transportation infrastructure of the region has been significantly strengthened with the Istanbul-Izmir Highway and Izmir-Aydın Highway, which were previously implemented.
Emphasizing that they have added strength to the transportation network in this region by opening the entire Aydın-Denizli Highway to traffic, Uraloğlu said, “We will provide much faster and more comfortable travel opportunities to our local and foreign tourists who will visit important tourism centers such as Pamukkale, Ephesus, Didim, Kuşadası. Just as the Büyük Menderes River, which passes through our Denizli province and flows into the sea in Aydın Söke, gives life to these lands, this highway will also be a lifeblood for the economy of our region.”
