Gebze-Izmir motorway

A new road asset with multiple challenges.

The motorway was built and commissioned in several phases between April 2016 and August 2019. The first 58 km of the road was opened in June 2016 and includes the Osmangazi Bridge, a 3,000 m suspension bridge crossing İzmit Bay, which is currently the 4th longest in the world in terms of central span.

The last section, stretching 184 km, was introduced into operation in August 2019.

The toll motorway includes 20 tolling plazas and three tunnels with cumulative length of more than 6 km. The key task following construction completion was to set up a sustainable organization able to maintain and operate the 426 km of motorway, tunnels and bridge to high standards. This means fast incident response, world-class traffic management and optimal infrastructure maintenance.

Preparing and supporting operational launch.

Egis is a 50% shareholder in the joint venture GIIB which will operate and manage the motorway for a period of more than 17 years. In pre-operational and operational phase, we provided all our expertise and know-how to the project.

Our assignments included:
• Appointing the General Manager of GIIB

• Defining the O&M strategy for traffic management, winter maintenance, asset management and toll collection

• Providing support for the procurement of the appropriate Mobile Operating Equipment

• Sending our O&M experts to train more than 300 GIIB employees in a short period (October 2015 – December 2015).

• Providing support to the staff during the first weeks of operation.

Operational excellence and exemplary management.

GIIB is today the industry leader in Turkey, and a model to follow for other PPP projects conducted in the country.

Several achievements and innovations can be highlighted on this megaproject:

• Incident response. More than 1000 incidents (80% breakdown and 20% accidents) occurred on the project in a monthly basis. The teams are intervening in less than 30 min for more 90% of cases.

• Environmentally friendly road maintenance. Egis (though GIIB) is the first O&M company in the country to use acetate potassium brine for the bridge winter maintenance instead of urea. Compared to urea, acetate potassium is less corrosive for the bridge, preserves the asset and has no impact on marine life. The salt brine helps reduce the usage of salt on the motorway and consequently its impact on the environment.

• An exemplary and inclusive employer. Today, the operator employs more than 800 staff, of whom 40% are women; this also applies to management-level employees. This compares with a national average of less than 19%. GIIB was proud to announce the recruitment of the country’s first ever female traffic patroller.

Gebze-Izmir : Efficiently operating new motorway infrastructure over the long term.

Client

Timeline

Benefits to travellers

Key figures for a Turkish megaproject.

Imagine.

A new road asset with multiple challenges.

Create.

Preparing and supporting operational launch.

Achieve.

Operational excellence and exemplary management.

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