Turkey's highway network to reach 7,516 km in 2023

ANKARA (A.A) - 21.03.2011 - Turkey's highway network will reach 7,516 km on the 100th anniversary of the Republic in 2023. 
The Directorate General of Highways told the A.A on Monday that it had been carrying out a series of projects to interconnect the highways across the country. Thanks to the projects to be concluded till 2023, Turkey will have an interconnected highway network of 7,516 km from its west to the east. 
The directorate aims at constructing 5,278 km highways. The projects are expected to cost more than $80 billion. 
Construction of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir highway has already begun. And tender process for the Northern Marmara highway Project including the third bridge over the Istanbul Strait has started. 
The projects to be concluded till 2023 and their lengths are as follows: 

Projects                                   Length (km)
-------------------------------          --------------
Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Highway                 421
Northern Marmara Highway                      361
Ankara-Samsun Highway                         370
Tekirdag-Canakkale-Balikesir Highway          433
Ankara-Izmir Highway                          549
Afyonkarahisar-Antalya-Alanya Highway         450
Sivrihisar-Bursa Highway                      202
Sanliurfa-Habur Highway                       385
Gerede-Gurbulak Highway                     1,265
Ankara-Nigde Highway                          326
Aydin-Denizli-Antalya Highway                 365
Sanliurfa-Diyarbakir Highway                   60
TOTAL                                       5,278   
The Directorate General of Highways also aims to decrease casualties in traffic accidents by 80 percent till 2023.