Under Erdoğan's government, the number of increased from 26 to 50. Between the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and 2002, there had been 6000 km of roads created. Between 2002 and 2011, another 13500 km of expressway were built. Due to these measures, the number of motor accidents fell by 50 percent.For the first time in Turkish history, were constructed, and the country's began in 2009. In 8 years, 1076 km of were built and 5449 km of railway renewed. The construction of , an undersea rail tunnel under the , started in 2004. When completed, it will be the world's deepest undersea.[] Construction of the 1.9 km long began in 2013. The chosen name for the bridge led to protests by in Turkey because of the role Sultan , nicknamed "the Grim" due to his cruelty, played in the .
