Supported by cables anchored into valley sides, the last two sections of the 1,000-ft-long deck are due to be placed this week and next.

Global team worked on Dardanelles crossing called the 1915Çanakkale Bridge.

Freshly armed in 1963 with a master’s degree in civil engineering from Istanbul Technical University, a young Ersin Arıoğlu and a partner had a daunting task: reinforce, upgrade and make an iconic contribution to Istanbul’s silhouette out of the Galata Tower, a building dating back to the Ottoman Empire.

It was a long-standing dream—not only of Ersin Arıoğlu, but of a nation. Could a suspension bridge someday cross the Dardanelles Strait in Turkey and provide another link between Europe and Asia?