Investing in infrastructure for planes, trains, and automobiles: Ambitious plans seek to speed up domestic links and tie in to regional networks

摘要

With no less than eight international borders, a territory larger than the state of Texas that is more than 1,000 miles long by some 500 miles wide, almost 4,500 miles of coastline on three seas, and a booming economy to service, it is little wonder transportation in Turkey is such a big issue. "Communications are very important," confirms the Minister of Transportation, Binali Yildirim. "If your exports [and imports] increase three times within six years, you must have proper infrastructures. We have doubled road capacity since 2003 and the target for 2011 is 14,000 miles of highways. The plan is to establish corridors, from east to west and from south to north, to link to international connections."