The Otoyol 7[2] (O-7; English: Motorway 7), or Northen Marmara Motorway(Turkish: Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu),[3] is a tollmotorway in Turkey that bypasses Istanbul to the north. The motorway is 248 km in length between the Kınalı junction and the Akyazı junction, and is 8 lanes wide (4+4 lanes).Within the scope of the Build-Operate-Transfer Model Construction, Operation and Transfer of Kınalı-Odayeri (Including Connection Roads) Section (North Marmara Europan Motorway) and Kurtköy-Akyazı (Including Connection Roads) Section (North Marmara Anatolian Motorway) of the Northern Marmara Motorway (Including the 3rd Bosphorus Bridge) Project, it is composed of two separate authorized companies, namely "AVRUPA OTOYOLU YATIRIM VE İŞLETME AŞ". on the European side and "KMO ANADOLU OTOYOLU İŞLETME AŞ". on the Asian side.[4]
The completed section of highway crosses the Bosphorus Strait via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which was opened in August 2016. The route is intended to serve as the outermost beltway of Istanbul as well as being the third road crossing of the Bosphorus. The route stretches 250 km (160 mi) from Silivri, on the European side, to Akyazı on the Asian side. Connections to the O-4 as well as both the Bosphorus and Fatih Sultan Mehmetbridges will be built as the Northern Marmara Motorway and will bypass Istanbul to the north.
Up to 2016, the only section under construction was the 56 km (35 mi) section from Odayeri to Paşaköy. In this section, 14 tunnels, 61 viaducts, 45 underpasses, and 63 overpasses will be constructed.
The western (Silivri-Odayeri) and eastern (Kurtköy-Akyazı) sections were tendered in early May 2016. Construction was then estimated to take three years and to start in 2016. The section of motorway south of O-3 was constructed in 1987 and was listed as a connector of the O-3 until 2016. The T1 and T2 tunnels on this highway were the location for the world's longest flight through a tunnel [5]
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