Turkey will build a new strait connecting the Black Sea with the Marmara Sea to reduce traffic in the Bosporus, one of the world’s busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

The prime minister announced his plan Wednesday in the midst of a re-election campaign, comparing the project’s importance with the Panama and Suez canals.

Kanal Istanbul would cut through mostly undeveloped land just west of Istanbul, ultimately connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

From the Wall Street Journal