Birecik Bridge

Birecik Bridge Birecik Köprüsü
Birecik bridge
Coordinates	37°00′48″N 37°34′57″E / 37.0134°N 37.5826°E / 37.0134; 37.5826
Carries	2 lanes of D.400
Crosses	Euphrates
Locale	Birecik
Named for	Town of Birecik
Owner	General Directorate of Highways
Characteristics
Material	Reinforced concrete
Total length	695 m (2,280 ft)
Width	11 m (36 ft)
No. of spans	5
History
Constructed by	Amaç Ticaret Türk A.Ş.
Construction start	18 August 1951
Construction end	March 1956; 69 years ago (March 1956)
Location

The Birecik Bridge is a 695 m (2,280 ft) long deck arch bridge carrying the D.400 across the Euphrates in Birecik, Turkey.

The bridge is on the state highway D.400, which runs from southwest to southeast Turkey. It spans over Fırat River (Euphrates) at about 37°02′N 37°58′E / 37.033°N 37.967°E / 37.033; 37.967. The river marks the boundary between Nizip district of Gaziantep Province and Birecik district of Şanlıurfa Province. Birecik is just at the east of the bridge and Nizip is 16 km (9.9 mi) to the west.

Up to 1956, travel between Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa was difficult, for all vehicles had to transfer to primitive ferries over the Fırat River. The bridge project was one of the major projects of Turkey in the 1950s. The awarded company was Amaç Ticaret Türk AŞ. The governmental inspection was carried out by the General Directorate of Highways.^[1] The construction began in August 1951 and the bridge was completed in March 1956.

The length of the bridge is 695 m (2,280 ft) and it is 11 m (36 ft) wide with1 m (3.3 ft) on each side reserved for pedestrians. There are five arches over the river ^[2] and fourteen sections over the land.^[3] At the time of its completion, it was the third longest bridge in Turkey, after the Karkamış Bridge and Uzunköprü Bridge.^[4]

Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists Birecik Bridge as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects realized in the first 50 years of the chamber.^[5]