• Name of bridge, location, and general information:

 

 

Millau Viaduct is located in Millau, France. The Millau Viaduct is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world. The spectacular Millau Viaduct set new standards in both planning design and construction with one mast's summit at 343 meters A total of 2460 m long, 32 m wide and 4.2 m deep, makes it the world's longest cable-stayed deck. The Millau viaduct spans a 2km valley in the Massif Central mountain range and forms the final link in the A75 highway from Paris to Barcelona.  , slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 meters shorter than the Empire State Building.

 

 

 

• Purpose of the bridge:

 

There were two important challenges in order to build this structure: crossing the River Tarn, and spanning the huge gap from one side to the other. The solution proposed was using seven pylons instead of the typical two or three. It is several meters taller than that other famous French landmark, the Eiffel Tower.

 

Type of bridge:

 

It is a large cable-stayedroad-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France.

 

 

• Materials:

 

It has been designed to look as delicate and transparent as possible. Each of its sections spans 342m and its columns range in height from 75m to 235m over the river Tarn. The Millau Viaduct It uses the minimum quantity of material: the deck, the masts and the multi-span cables, which are placed in the middle and all, are in steel. is composed by eight-span steel roadway supported by seven concrete pylons.

 

 

 

• Technology involved in its construction:

 

 

The Viaduct’s construction begins on October 2001 and ends on December 2004. It takes a long process to finish this architectural piece.

 

Pylons and abutments:  Two weeks after the laying of the first stone, the workers started to dig the deep shafts. There were 4 per pylon; 15 m deep and 5 m in diameter, assuring the stability of the pylons. The pylons emerged from the ground. The speed of construction then quickly increased and every three days each pylon increased in height by 4 m.

 

Rolling out the deck:  The bridge deck was built on land at the ends of the viaduct and rolled lengthwise from one pylon to the next, with eight temporary towers providing additional support.

 

Erection of mast:   The mast pieces were driven over the new deck, welded together and erected on top of the pylons. The masts and the deck were installed, and the temporary pylons were removed.

 

 

• Designers:

 

 

This viaduct was designed by English architect Norman Foster and Frenchbridge engineer Michel Virlogeux. Design and construction of the bridge took a long time. In this region, climatic conditions are tough, with violent winds. Crossing is so difficult because the Tarn Valley is very deep. Thus different approaches were investigated, and all of them were found to be very technically demanding. Ten years of research and four years of implementation were required for the Millau Viaduct.

 

 

 

• Advantages of the bridge for the specific community

 

The viaduct provides a continuous high-speed route from Paristhrough Clermont-Ferrand to the Languedoc region and through to Spain, considerably reducing the cost of vehicle traffic travelling along this route.

 

The viaduct provides a continuous high-speed route from Paris

 

The bridge forms the last link of the A75autoroute, (la Méridienne) from Clermont-Ferrand to Pézenas.

 

Also it relieves traffic congestion in the Rhone Valley which connects Northern Europe with Spain and Portugal.

 

Millau has seen an improvement on their economy due to the viaduct effect. Now many buildings and hotels are on construction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resources:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/europe_the_millau_bridge/html/3.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_viaduct

http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/millau_viaduct/