The highways in Turkey are divided into three types: motorways, state roads and provincial roads.

Types of roads

There are three types of intercity roads in Turkey:

Motorways are controlled-access highways that are officially named Otoyol. But it is not uncommon for people in Turkey to call them Otoban (referring to Autobahn) as this types of roads entered popular culture by the means of Turks in Germany. These roads depend on the General Directorate of Highways except those that are financed with a BOT model.

State roads (Devlet Yolları) are historical and free road network that are completely under the responsibility of the General Directorate of Highways except for urban sections (like the sections falling within the inner part of ring roads of Ankara, Istanbul or İzmir). Even if they mostly possess dual carriageways and interchanges, they also have some traffic lights and intersections.

Provincial roads (Il Yolları) are highways of secondary importance linking districts within a province to each other, the provincial center, the districts in the neighboring provinces, the state roads, railway stations, seaports, and airports.

  • Motorways: Motorway 3.796 km (January 2025)[3]
  • Dual carriageways: 29.673 km (January 2025)[3]
  • State Highways 30.832 km (January 2025)[3]
  • Provincial Roads 33.922 km (January 2025)[3]
  • Motorway Projects‐Vision 8.325 km (in 2053)[4]

As of 2023, there are 471 tunnels (total length 665 km)[5] and 9.660 bridges (total length 739 km)[6] on the network.

Motorways

Highway Roads in Turkey as of October 1, 2024

This map highlights different types of highways across Turkey as of October 1, 2024, classified by their funding and operational model:

Red: Highways that are open to service and funded by public resources.

Blue: Highways currently under construction, developed through the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, where private companies build and operate the highway for a specified period before transferring ownership to the government.

Green: Highways that are already open to service and were developed using the BOT model, now operational and managed under this system.

The Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, known as "Yap-İşlet-Devret" (YID) in Turkish, allows for private investment in highway infrastructure to support expansion and maintenance without immediate public expenditure.

State roads

The numbering of state roads is as indicated below:

  • D0XX, D1XX, D2XX, D3XX, D4XX: West–east roads (numbered west to east )
  • D5XX, D6XX, D7XX, D8XX, D9XX: North–south roads (numbered north to south)

West – east reference main

West – east intermediate

North – south reference main

North – south intermediate

Provincial roads

Provincial roads (İl yolu) are under the responsibility of KGM. These are the roads that connect the central district and counties within the borders of a province to each other and to the nearby district centers of neighboring provinces, state roads, train stations, ports and airports.

These are roads other than those under the responsibility of municipalities or other institutions[7] and bears the license plate number of that province in the road identification number's first half. (Example 35-04 List of provincial roads in Izmir Province)

See also

References

  1. ^ Muhteşem Kaynak - Türkiye'de Otoyollar
  2. ^ Length of Motorways
  3. ^ a b c d "KGM 2025 Performance Report" (PDF). kgm.gov.tr (in Turkish). 2023-01-01. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-02-06. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
  4. ^ "Bakan Karaismailoğlu: Hedefimiz 2053'e kadar otoyol uzunluğumuzu 8 bin 325 kilometreye ulaştırmak" (in Turkish). aa.com.tr. 2022-12-06. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
  5. ^ "Tunnel projects". kgm.gov.tr. Archived from the original on 2023-02-06. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
  6. ^ "Bridge Projects" (in Turkish). kgm.gov.tr. Archived from the original on 2023-02-06. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
  7. ^ Law No. 6001 article 2/h
No tags for this post.