SIEMENS

In recent years, Turkey has frequently drawn the world’s attention with particularly ambitious infrastructure projects. How many road kilometers have been built – and how many are in the planning stage?

Between 2003 and 2012, our Directorate’s efforts resulted in the construction of more than 16,000 kilometers of divided roads. This is a giant step on the way to our target of building a total of 36,827 km of divided roads by 2023, when we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of our Republic. Right now we are at the 22,253 kilometer mark, and more projects are already under way.

Which goal was dominant in you plan - the improvement of mobility on the national level or the optimization of the international transport links passing through your country?

We are very aware of the key role that our country is playing in the transport connections linking Europe, Asia and Africa. This is why we have planned our highway system so as to support our national development and at the same time foster the integration and development of the entire region. In the field of interurban transport, about 92 percent of goods and 95 percent of passenger traffic are handled by roads in Turkey. It is clear, however, that we need to shift long-distance and international transport from highways to maritime lines and railroads. The Transport Council has defined a number of targets for 2023. One of the most important targets is to ensure coordination between various transport modes to create a coherent, integrated transport system and to shift long distance road transport from highways to railroads. This would not only reduce transport costs and consequently the price of the transported goods, but at the same time improve the quality level of our highways by limiting the damage caused by heavy vehicles.

How can advanced traffic technologies improve the effectiveness of your highway system?

The growing use of motorized vehicles has boosted demand for improved roads. . But this trend can only go so far. At some point it becomes clear that increased demand cannot be met only by building new roads, but that we also need to manage the existing road networks efficiently. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are an important part of traffic management. With the deployment of intelligent transport systems on our highways we also hope to minimize the risk of accidents caused by icing, road damage, fog, and road work. These systems analyze and aggregate the data provided by cameras or vehicle and travel time detectors as well as meteorological data from devices installed throughout the network and then display information about any hazardous situations on variable message signs to inform drivers. We have already set up Intelligent Transport System Centers at seven Regional Directorates for Highways. This year we plan to further expand our intelligent transport system, with plans calling for a total of seventeen Traffic Management System Centers throughout Turkey, all connected to the Main Traffic Management System Center, which will be established at our General Directorate. The creation of this Main Center is one of the goals defined in the scope of the 10th Transport Council under the motto of “Target: 2023.”

Transport infrastructure projects are often implemented under public-private partnership (PPP) models. What’s your view on this?

Such projects are a valuable instrument since they involve fewer service providers offer the possibility of combining design and construction phases, and speed up the supply process. In additioin, since they can rely on shorter financing cycles associated performance and infrastructure projects can be completed faster. In terms of operating costs, too, PPP models promise additional benefits because private companies can use specialized technologies, employ a specialized labor force and conclude more flexible labor agreements. There are also advantages with regard to risk sharing and financing diversity.

A consortium is currently realizing the largest transport infrastructure project in Turkish history in the framework of a Build-Operate-Transfer model (BOT). What are this model’s most important benefits?

Our General Directorate was responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of service facilities on a total of 23 highways realized on the basis of the BOT financing model, without applying for public resources. Among the top-priority BOT projects is the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir highway including one of the world's largest suspension bridges suspension bridges, the Izmit Gulf Passage and linking roads. This project links Istanbul to both Izmir and Europe and is one of the world’s very few projects of such an extraordinary physical and financial scope. The BOT model is a very efficient way of utilizing public resources, and as such it is a valuable alternative financing source that complements and substitutes traditional financing to a certain extent.

In Turkey, road traffic is largely self-financing because on many routes, drivers pay for the use of roads. What toll collection systems are the most widely used?

With the switch to an unmanned toll collection system for the Bosporus Bridges and most of the highways, we were a forerunner on the global level. Our two systems – the automatic pass system and the card pass system – count over 16 million users in total. To reduce the cost of the electronic tickets used for automated toll collection, we have teamed up with the Turkish postal services in a project for the introduction of the new “Fast Pass System,” which has already reached the final phase. This method recognizes objects individually and automatically by using RFID tags on vehicles. This offers many advantages such as uninterrupted traffic flow.

What are your main areas of activity with regard to reducing traffic-generated pollution?

It is estimated that in Turkey 80-85% of total CO₂ emissions in transportation are caused by land transport. Current efforts to reduce land transport emissions include building divided highways, improving standards of roads, and raising the standards for paving materials, and afforestation. In this context, we are carrying out a wide variety of measures. In addition to increasing the passenger and goods transport capacity of our railroads and pushing railroad electrification, we are planning the introduction of mass transit systems, supported by intelligent transport systems, in ten metropolitan regions. Other points on our agenda are restructuring of the vehicle taxation system based on vehicle emissions, encouraging the use of new-generation bio-fuels, providing tax deductions for hybrid-electrical or fully electrical vehicles, withdrawing older vehicles with low emission classes from traffic, promoting the use of liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas vehicles, launching intensive reforestation campaigns along roads and railroad lines, and establishing a transport environment coordination committee that comprises representatives of non-government organizations as well as of all organizations and institutions involved in the transport business. And last but not least, we want to raise road users’ awareness of environmentally-responsible driving behavior and make these techniques a mandatory training subject in driver training courses and in the formal education system.