Mersin's Cıklı-Kızkalesi motorway opens Monday midnight, cutting travel time to 18 minutes

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that construction work on the Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi section of the Çeşmeli-Erdemli-Silifke-Taşucu motorway has been completed. The motorway will open to traffic at 00:01 on the night connecting 18 October to 19 October.

The 52-kilometre section consists of 41 kilometres of motorway and 11 kilometres of connecting roads. It includes 10 grade-separated junctions, seven tunnels, five viaducts, two motorway service areas, six toll plazas, one maintenance and operation centre, and one tunnel operation centre.

“We will open our motorway to traffic at 00:01 on the night connecting 18 October to 19 October.”

Uraloğlu said travel time during summer months will fall from 2.5 hours to 18 minutes as transit traffic shifts from the state highway to the motorway. The project is expected to save 3.02 billion Turkish liras annually, comprising 2.68 billion liras in time savings and 340 million liras in fuel savings.

Carbon emissions are projected to drop by 17,000 tons per year. The motorway will also ease access to Mersin's tourism areas and strengthen uninterrupted highway links along the Mersin-Adana-Gaziantep-Şanlıurfa corridor.

An official opening ceremony will be held at a later date with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.