Turkey's bridge, road tolls yield over $28.8M in Jan.

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey earned over 154.3 million Turkish liras ($28.8 million) from tolls collected at its two bridges over the Istanbul Strait and linked highways in January, according to the country’s highway directorate on Tuesday.

The July 15 Martyrs' Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, both of which are over the Bosphorus connecting Europe to Asia, yielded 34.5 million liras ($6.5 million), while the highways reaped 119.8 million Turkish liras ($22.4 million), according to data released by the Turkish Highways Directorate.

The figures indicate that 34.6 million vehicles paid tolls in the first month of this year.

Drivers in Turkey pay 8.75 Turkish liras ($1.6) for the bridge tolls, with higher fees for vehicles with more than two axles.

Last year, 463 million vehicles used the toll bridges and roads in Turkey, paying 1.8 billion liras ($367 million).