Page 29 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Mehmet Emin Birpınar - Ersin Gürtepe

General of Environmental Management, 2021), which combines the European
Eurovelo line with the historical, cultural and natural beauties of Türkiye, has
been prepared and the construction of 3 thousand km of cycle route and 3
thousand km of green walking paths up to 2023 has been started, and local
governments have been supported by the Ministry in this respect. Also, a
legal regulation has been made to ensure that electric scooters (e-scooters),
which allow for ease of transportation in short distances and whose use is
gradually increasing, can safely run in traffic as a means of transportation.

On the other side, periodic inspections are performed to reduce vehicles’
exhaust emissions with internal combustion engines that are currently in traffic.
In this context, camera monitoring systems have been put into operation to
ensure efficiency in inspections, criteria have been established for authorized
measurement stations, and deterrence has been achieved by increasing
penalties for irregular operations. In addition, the Exhaust Electronic
Inspection System (EGEDES) system, developed with the Presidency of
Defense Industries, was commissioned in order to warn, with a short message,
the vehicle owners who do not have exhaust inspections performed, and to
detect these vehicles running in traffic, thus increasing the inspection rates by
more than 30% (Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of
the Republic of Türkiye, 2022).
Apart from alternative transportation projects such as Marmaray and high-
speed train, developed with the aim of expanding public transportation, the
investments in infrastructure such as the Eurasia Tunnel, Yavuz Selim and
Osmangazi Bridges, 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and high-performance highways
make transportation easier on the one hand, and less fuel consumption on the
other hand, preventing both environmental and air pollution (Anadolu Agency,
2022). Moreover, the Transport and Logistics Strategy Plan (Ministry of Transport
and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye, 2022) has been published by the
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure within the framework of the Transport
Vision 2053, and the plan states, for the purpose of reducing the greenhouse
gases and air pollutant emissions originating from transportation, that high-
speed train projects will be emphasized and railway transport will be used
more actively than road transport and green port projects will be supported,
and that cycling will be prioritized in order to increase urban mobility.
In this process, actions were taken with respect to the fuel content, and
the use of lead, a harmful heavy metal, in fuel oils was banned in 2004, and
the sulphur content was limited to improve the fuel quality of road and sea
transportation.

14 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate