19.10.2026 11:35
The Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi section of the Çeşmeli-Erdemli-Silifke-Taşucu Highway, which will ease transportation in Mersin, one of Turkey's leading production and tourism cities, has been put into service.
The Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi section of the Çeşmeli-Erdemli-Silifke-Taşucu Motorway, which will reduce travel time between central Mersin and Kızkalesi to 18 minutes, opened at night. It was reported that the 52-kilometer-long Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Motorway consists of a 41-kilometer main trunk line and 11 kilometers of connecting roads.
A PERMANENT SOLUTION TO THE TRAFFIC PROBLEM
With the commissioning of the project, which is aimed at providing a permanent solution to the traffic problem experienced in tourism regions, especially during the summer months and holiday periods, fuel and time savings have also begun to be achieved as of today.
In the project, 10 interchanges, 7 tunnels and 5 viaducts, 2 motorway service facilities, 6 toll collection areas, and one maintenance and tunnel operation center each were built. It is aimed to reduce travel time, which takes hours in summer, to up to 18 minutes thanks to this. It was noted that a total saving of 3 billion 20 million lira, including 2.68 billion lira from time and 340 million lira from fuel, will be provided annually, and carbon emissions will be reduced by 17 thousand tons per year. It was also stated that it will strengthen the transportation infrastructure between Mersin's tourism, agriculture, industry and logistics centers.
DRIVERS EXPRESSED THEIR SATISFACTION
Drivers using the road, which allows transit traffic on the D-400 Antalya-Mersin and D715 Konya-Mersin state roads to reach the motorway network without entering city centers, expressed their satisfaction.
Furkan Evcimen, one of those who tried the motorway, said, "It was a motorway we had been waiting for a long time. I think it will make a great contribution to our Mersin. This region has the potential for investment. In that respect, especially in the summer months when people demand it heavily, it was a region with very heavy traffic. I think it will be good for us. The road has been built very nicely. The asphalt and so on are of good quality. I am also one of the first to pass through."
Russian citizen Andrei Kichkidov, who has been living in Mersin for some time, said, "I have been living in Mersin for 4 years; I can come from the airport to Erdemli very quickly. It used to take 1 hour 10 minutes, now it takes a maximum of 40 minutes," noting that the road is very beautiful.