The Millau Viaduct Bridge
The present time has been well described as the age of bigness with people vying to create the ever largest thinks.What was considered the ultimate and most gigantic of its kind in the past,has in most cases,been surpassed.So,who is the holder of the only one of its kind title on earth?Well,no one knows.
The Millau Viaduct Bridge situated in southern France across the Tarn gorge,is the final link in the 210 mile A75 highway from Paris to Barcelona in Spain.Before the bridge was built the traffic had to craw!
Through Millau down the 2.6 kilometres valley creating a bottleneck.After decades of deliberation,the Frence government approved a design prepared by the British architect,Lord Norman Robert Foster jointly with French bridge engineer,Michel Virlogeux which would preserve ecology and scenic beauty of the landscape.
The work started in octobar 2001 by Eiffage,the company which built the world famous Eiffel Tower.It has been built on seven piers each having 16 sections.
Each section weighs 2453 tons and measures 56 feet by 13 feet.
Yet it is much lighter than similar other bridges,presenting a unique fusion of size and strength with a sense of lightness.
Spanning the huge gap from one plateau across the valley to the other end and crossing the Tarn River,was an unprecedented problem.The designer and the engineers,therefore,decided to use 7 piers instead of the usual 2 or 3.The piers have different heights ranging from 75 metres to 235 metres.The piers were sunk in shafts,made of reinforced concrete in a pyramidal shape.They rise to a further 90 metres above the road deck of the bridge.
Below the roadway each column splits into two thinner columns forming an A-frame above the deck.This bridge gives the necessary flexibility and creats a dramatic silhouette and results into minimizing interference with surrounding picturesque landscape.
