[9] The US$1 billion privately financed bridge was awarded to the Japanese firm IHI Infrastructure System Co. on 16 July 2011 as EPC basis with FIDIC Silverbook contract.

IHI, which was one of the contractors of second Bosphorus bridge, also completed the seismic reinforcement projects for Halic and Mecidiyekoy viaducts.

[11] On 21 March 2015 a catwalk broke away from its bolted joint cable on the south tower during the construction at the bridge and fell into the water.

Marine traffic to and from İzmit Bay was suspended following the accident for security reasons and resumed after recovering the cable in the morning of 23 March.

[12][13] Kishi Ryoichi, the 51-year-old Japanese engineer of the IHI-Itochu Consortium, who was in charge of the construction at site, committed suicide after the accident.

He crossed the 1.5 km (0.93 mi) distance in 26 seconds reaching a top speed of 400 km/h (250 mph) on his Kawasaki Ninja H2R track-only motorcycle.