Mehmet Y. Yilmaz:Bridge chaos in Istanbul
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Starting from last night at midnight, new attempts to reduce traffic on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet and Bosphorus Bridges have gone into implementation. Though it is not clear at the hour I am writing this what the results will be, as a car driver who has lived in Istanbul for years, I can say the following with comfort: "May Allah help anyone wanting to use one of those bridges this evening!"
Let me tell you how I know this: First of all, not enough was done to get the word out to commuters about these changes. Billboards announcing the changes went up only last week along the freeways. Authorities are also reporting that as of Saturday, sales of the automatic OGS and KGS systems (which will now, in the wake of the elimination of cash tolls from the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, be required for vehicles wishing to cross that bridge) are fewer than expected. Which means that motorists who have not heard about these new implementations will block access to both bridges tonight, making the Bosphorus virtually uncrossable! Another interesting aspect to these new changes is that it seems the authorities never noticed that the real traffic blockage was also occurring after the cars were passing through tolls on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. Well, maybe this situation will be solved as of today, since very few commuters are likely to actually make it across the bridge! And so, another "Professor Limited Mentality" project has begun. Let's see how many days it lasts.