World's longest suspension bridge cost £2billion to build but title is threatened

The world's longest suspension bridge stretches an impressive 2,023 metres, linking Europe and Asia. Having opened just four years ago, it claimed the record from Japan's Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge was opened on March 18, 2022 in north-west Turkey. It begins in Gelibolu on Turkey's European side and extends across to Lapseki on the Asian shore. The structure surpasses the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, completed in 1998, by 32 metres. Work on the crossing over the Dardanelles Strait commenced in 2017, and travel times have been slashed by as much as 93%. Since its opening, the bridge has eliminated the need for 90-minute ferry crossings. Both its name and dimensions hold symbolic significance for the nation. The 1915 reference commemorates the Ottoman triumph during the First World War, a defeat for Britain that paved the way for the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, reports the Mirror . The 2,203-metre span acknowledges 2023, the year Turkey celebrated the centenary of the republic's foundation. President Erdogan previously disclosed that the colossal bridge carried a price tag of €2.5 billion (just over £2 billion). He stated: "Turkey has overtaken Japan, which has the longest bridge in the world in terms of midspan, and has taken the place." Following the project's completion, Erdogan remarked: "Canakkale, which has been the apple of the eyes of various civilizations, cultures and societies for thousands of years, embraces a brand new future today. "We have come together to inaugurate the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, which we see as a ruby necklace over the Canakkale Strait." While currently holding the record for the world's longest suspension bridge, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge may be overtaken. Italy has put forward plans for a new bridge linking the mainland to Sicily, which would claim the title of the world's longest. Should it be built, it would stretch 3,300 metres. This isn't the first occasion the bridge crossing the Strait of Messina has been suggested. A comprehensive scheme was developed during the 1990s but was scrapped in 2006. The plans were resurrected in 2009 but once more abandoned in 2023. Last year, the proposals surfaced again. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: "It is not an easy task but we consider it an investment in Italy's present and future, and we like difficult challenges when they make sense." Concerns have been expressed regarding earthquakes, powerful currents and interference with bird migration patterns.