ENKA and its partner Bechtel built two sections of the high-speed Ankara-Gerede Motorway Project. The highway system, linking Istanbul, Türkiye’s European entrance and Ankara, its Asian capital, has been critical to Türkiye. ENKA-Bechtel JV provided a full range of services, from financing and project management to construction and the administration of the design and engineering subcontract.

The Gerede-Ankara and Ankara Peripheral motorway project is one of the largest infrastructure development projects in Türkiye. The total length of the motorway is 230 km. It forms a significant part of the Trans-European motorway (TEM). As a major link to the Trans-European Motorway connecting Europe with Iran, the motorway is vital for transporting goods to and from Middle-Eastern markets. The six- to eight-lane high-speed toll way was built in two sections. The first section, a six-lane, 115-kilometre segment, connects the capital, Ankara, with the town of Gerede; the second is an eight-lane, 115-kilometre beltway circling Ankara. It goes through terrain with very difficult and complex geological formations and has been designed in accordance with the highest world standards and specifications.

Resulting highway system is critical to Türkiye’s future economic standing, providing the final link for freight and other road traffic between Istanbul, Türkiye’s European port, and Ankara. The Ankara-Gerede Motorway demonstrates ENKA’s ability to provide everything from crushed rock to sophisticated financing for successful completion to client requirements.

Building the motorway was a challenge. In some sections the road reached heights of 1.5 kilometres above sea level and yet our team excavated more than 163 million m³ of earth and rock. At peak, excavation reached 6.5 million m³ on August 1990. There was 16.2 million m³ of embankment, and 4.7 million m³ of embankment was accomplished as a peak on August 1990. At the same time, 1.24 million m³ of concrete was poured for the project and 107 thousand of ton rebar were installed, which includes 63 overpasses and underpasses, 25 bridges and viaducts and 560 box culverts. Most of the bridges are of standard design consisting of concrete piers and precast/pre-stressed concrete U-beams. 5.1 million tons of asphalt was placed and over 332 thousand tons of asphalt was the record on August 1991. The quantity of crushed aggregate was exceeded on 31 million tons.

The alignment traversed rugged terrain, in some places reaching heights of 1.5 kilometres above sea level. Our team mobilized almost 1,500 pieces of heavy construction equipment to accomplish work under difficult weather conditions, including rain that turned fresh excavations into lakes.

Our team of international professionals brought the following experience and capabilities to the Ankara–Gerede Motorway project:

• Complex, mega project delivery
• Maintaining schedule while traversing remote, rigorous terrain
• Recruitment, training, and maintaining of a large local workforce and deployment of mobile camps
• Coordination between multiple work sites
• Timely handling of significant quantities of excavation, back-fill, concrete and steel at multi-project locations
• Movement of heavy equipment as necessary.

• Almost 230 kilometres
• Six to eight lanes
• One of the largest single construction projects ever undertaken in Türkiye
• Almost 6,000 Turkish employees
• Financing package named the ‘Deal of Year’ by Euromoney Trade Finance
• 27.4 million staff-hours worked
• Integration of tasks and hands-on training for local field personnel for an effective workforce that kept costs low.