DL E&C and SK ecoplant said on the 16th that the Türkiye "Çanakkale Bridge," built by the two companies, was selected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport as one of the "top 10 overseas construction projects."
Records capturing the achievements of the Çanakkale Bridge will be displayed at the special exhibition "From memory to the future," which opens that day at the National Land Development Exhibit Hall in Jung District, Seoul, to commemorate $1 trillion in cumulative overseas construction orders.
The exhibition was organized to explore the meaning and driving forces behind $1 trillion in cumulative overseas construction orders and to highlight the hard work of the public and workers. Visitors can see in one place the footprints of overseas construction over 60 years—from the market-pioneering period in 1965 and the Middle East boom to the present—and the historical significance contained therein. The exhibits are the top 10 overseas construction projects, selected through a public vote and expert review.
On the first floor of the exhibition hall, the process by which the Çanakkale Bridge wrote a first in history as the world's longest suspension bridge (total length 3,563 meters) is introduced. A suspension bridge, which connects the bridge deck with hangers dropped from cables linking the main towers, is called "a harp on the sea" for its beautiful appearance. This bridge connecting Europe and Asia is a mega-project with a total project cost of 4.2 trillion won. DL E&C and SK ecoplant won the order in Jan. 2017, broke ground in Apr. the following year, and completed it after four years of construction.
The Çanakkale Bridge has the world's longest main span (the distance between main towers) at 2,023 meters. Extending the distance between the main towers is the core of suspension bridge construction technology. It surpasses the 2-kilometer mark once considered a technical limit.
For this exhibition, DL E&C directly brought from Türkiye commemorative coins engraved with the Çanakkale Bridge and work uniforms used at the time.
Also on display is a real "wire strand" used to make the main cables, offering a vivid sense of the site. A wire strand is 127 ultra-high-strength steel wires, each 5.75 millimeters in diameter, bundled into a hexagonal shape. One hundred forty-four of these wire strands are used to make the main cables, the massive steel ropes. A single cable made this way can withstand a load of 100,000 tons, equivalent to more than 60,000 passenger cars, boasting the highest tensile strength (the degree to which it can withstand pulling force) available today.
A DL E&C official said, "The Çanakkale Bridge is significant in that the world's longest suspension bridge was completed with domestic technology," adding, "This exhibition will look back on the history of overseas construction and deliver a deep resonance by conveying the dedication and stories of the builders behind it."