Istanbul’s Historical Peninsula to be closed to traffic

ISTANBUL – Anatolia News Agency

The municipality’s transportation unit will close some streets in Istanbul to traffic where historical mosques are located. Hürriyet photo

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s transportation unit will close 90 streets on the city’s historical peninsula to traffic beginning Jan. 1, 2011.

The new restrictions will include streets in parts of Beyazıt, Sultanahmet and Sirkeci and will be limited to the area along the Beyazıt – Sultanahmet – Sirkeci tram route, Ragıp Gümüşpala Street and Cemil Birsel Street. The area will only be open to pedestrian traffic.

According to a decision from the Transportation Coordination Center, or UKOME only official vehicles, such as police and municipal patrol vehicles, bank and post office vehicles, and fire engines and ambulances would be able to enter the area. Parking in the pedestrian area will also be forbidden.

Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir said making the area open to pedestrians only would have a positive impact on the area’s tourism potential and preliminary works were begun at the beginning of 2010 in conjunction with various nongovernmental organizations and the Turkey Travel Agencies Union, or TÜRSAB.

Demir said a special tram for cruise passengers who come to Istanbul for a limited time was also being planned. “The project has been completely planned out but some bureaucratic problems remain. I hope we overcome them,” he said, adding that the project, set to cost 2 million Turkish Liras, was planned to be completed by May next year.

Currently, cruise passengers are transported to Sultanahmet by buses that are only allowed to idle in the area for 15 minutes because of the potential damage they could cause the Basilica Cistern, Demir said.