Millau Bridge

The Millau Bridge of France stretches across the valley of the River Tarn high above the town of Millau. It is the highest bridge in the world, designed by the same firm that built the Eiffel Tower.


The bridge was constructed on columns that rise from the valley floor, huge monsters of steel and concrete that support the bridge at it's height of 984 feet.



540 workers spent years working on just erecting the towers before they could begin assembling the roadway.


Often the bridge is over the clouds which hover in the valley below. Construction workers on the ground could not see what the people on top of the towers were doing beacuse of the great height and frequent cloud cover.


This dramatic view shows workers milling about the platform, the inside of the column filled with steel and concrete to stablize the bridge against high winds. According to the firm Eiffage Group, some of the most respected architects and engineers in the world says that the bridge has an estimated lifespan of 120 years.


Once the columns were in place, the roadway was inched outward slowly. Hydraulic devices pulled the steel roadbed out for 4 minutes at a time, each tug edging an additional 600 millimeters. As each section reached the edge of the last it was lowered into place and secured. Each section truly inched it's way across the top of the supports.


For many years the A75 highway wound and twisted through the Millau Valley, crossed the River Tarn, then crawled back up the opposite side. During summer the country roads had become an unending series of traffic jams. The bridge was built to clear summer traffic jams around the town.


Unfinished, the first sections stop at a few hundred feet out. Eventually the two sides met in the middle and were connected. If the bridge is complete, a driver can save 100 kilometers and 4 hours of driving time by cruising over the valley below.


Darkness did not slow down the construction as workers labored at times around the clock to get the important roadway open.


Observers say the construction, which has seven pillars, is one of the most breathtaking bridges ever built.


Once cables began to be strung across the bridge it's beauty bacame more evident.


The bridge stands more than 300m (984ft) high, with pylons bound to the bridge by cobwebs of steel.


President Jacques Chirac inaugurates the bridge, in the Massif Central mountains.


Now the true beauty of the bridge is evident as traffic begins to cross the finished work. Amazing really, that something so architecturally stunning saves enough time and fuel to actually reduce pollution significantly in the river valley.


A wonderful view of the entire structure from the air showing the older highway twisting and turning endlessly up and down the hills below.


Satellite imagery shows how the massive bridge allows a straight shot across a rugged gash in the Earth. Millau has always been a center for leather and leatherwork. Now they sell leather and people zipping over the bridge often linger in the town to enjoy the view of the bridge which has opened up tourism to the area.


Correspondents say the bridge is a source of pride for Millau, which believes many more tourists will come to admire it.


Architect Norman Foster says it was designed to have the "delicacy of a butterfly".





Taken from :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4095037.stm
http://www.gamellama.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110:millau-bridge-france-worlds-highest-bridge&catid=34:buildings&Itemid=59