THE MILLAU VIADUCT
If you ever come our way the three hour drive from Cahors to Millau is a must, as it’s there you’ll find the breathtakingly beautiful Millau Viaduct. Whenever Philippe and I have a rendezvous in Provence or the Camargue we always take the Millau route, at least one way, and each time we do we fall in love with it all over again.
Here are a few facts about it:
The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France.
Designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure.
It is the 12th highest bridge deck in the world, being 270 metres (890 ft) between the road deck and the ground below.
The Millau Viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers and Montpellier.
Construction cost was approximately €400 million.
It was formally inaugurated on 14 December 2004, and opened to traffic on 16 December.
The bridge has been consistently ranked as one of the great engineering achievements of all time and received the 2006 International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering Outstanding Structure Award.
... and here are some more photos taken there by my mother a few summers ago.
