New Bridge completed in France

stiofanD

The worlds highest bridge has been completed today in France - The Millau Viaduct is the last link in the A75 motorway from Paris to Barcelona and the statistics are pretty impressive :

2,500 m long
7 pillars support the bridge ranging in size from 77m for the smallest to 336m for the tallest (roadway is 245m off the ground)

to put it in context, the westlink is 385m long and 42m high.

and all this for only 300 million euro and 3 years construction.

Can you imagine how much this would have cost had it been built in Ireland ?? :eek:

There's a beautiful picture of it in todays Irish Times, but for those without access, there's a nice atmospheric photo of it while under construction here

Töpher

It is, erm, above the clould, right? Holy dog poop thats impressive!

thejollyrodger

WOW !! that is impressive

I wonder how long it would take to build something like that here and how much it would cost !!

(ugly website though)

stiofanD

I'd be tempted to organise a driving holiday in France just so I could drive over that monster. I'd say you'd need to wear your brown trousers if it was a windy day though

woolymammoth

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3759307.stm

dmeehan

here's the offical website:
http://www.viaducdemillaueiffage.com/accueil.asp?code_langue=UK

dmeehan

dmeehan wrote:

here's the offical website:
http://www.viaducdemillaueiffage.com/accueil.asp?code_langue=UK

what a rubbish site that is an empty document and none of the links work from the homepage http://www.viaducdemillaueiffage.com/

(nice pic of the bridge though)

Alun

There was a program about how it was built on one of the Discovery channels recently ... in the Extreme Engineering series IIRC. Knowing Discovery, it'll be repeated a zillion times in the next year or so, so you should be able to catch it again some time soon.

Victor

Einst&#252 wrote: »

It is, erm, above the clould, right? Holy dog poop thats impressive!

Erm, no, it's above the fog.

mike65

http://www.structurae.net/structures/data/photos.cfm?ID=s0000351

Mike.

chewy

why didn't they just build a road?

its not clear from the reports or pics?

Victor

chewy wrote:

why didn't they just build a road?

It's a steeply sided river valley. The extra amount of road needed to go up and down the sides would have been considerable, and would have been cutting though hard rock. At a 3% slope, it would have meant about an extra 15km of road.

sliabh

Bet they got good crash barriers on the sides of that one!

Fudger

sliabh wrote:

Bet they got good crash barriers on the sides of that one!

pipe down you.
trouble maker

jlang

Now we need to build ourselves a few valleys so we can have bridges like that!

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/reuters/uNews/4647873?view=Standard

France inaugurates world's highest bridge
From:Reuters
Tuesday, 14 December, 2004
By Denis Thomas and Joelle Diderich

MILLAU, France (Reuters) - President Jacques Chirac has inaugurated the world's highest bridge, a creation taller than the Eiffel Tower, longer than the Champs Elysees and designed to end a traffic bottleneck in southern France.

Conceived by British architect Norman Foster, the slender white viaduct in the picturesque Tarn Valley will provide a new motorway link between Paris and the Spanish border, easing congestion in the Rhone valley during the busy summer months.

Chirac unveiled a simple commemorative plaque on Tuesday before plunging into a throng of white helmeted construction workers, as an air display team flew past the bridge trailing red, white and blue smoke -- the colours of the national flag.

He hailed the viaduct as a "marvel of art and architecture", a monument to French engineering genius that was a "miracle of equilibrium" and projected a bold, successful, modern image.

"The Millau Viaduct is a magnificent example, in the long and great French tradition, of audacious works of art, a tradition begun at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by the great Gustave Eiffel," Chirac told a reception.

The highest of the bridge's seven concrete pillars stands at 343 metres (1,125 ft), 19 metres (62 ft) higher than the Eiffel Tower. At almost 2.5 km (1.5 miles), it is longer than the Champs Elysees and slightly curved to afford drivers a dramatic view of the surrounding countryside and the ancient town of Millau with its medieval bell tower.

"The whole thing looks impossibly delicate," Foster said in a telephone interview of what he called his "sculpture in the landscape", a 394-million-euro (272 million pounds) project financed by construction firm Eiffage.

"It is a dialogue between nature and the man-made," he said.

ELEGANCE

The engineering feat has drawn rapturous praise for its elegant lines, which allow it to blend seamlessly into the surrounding region famed for its gorges, medieval villages and Roquefort cheese.

"We were attracted by the elegance and logic of a structure that would march across the heroic landscape and in the most minimal way connect one plateau to the other," said Foster, who designed the glass dome that tops Germany's Reichstag parliament building in Berlin.

"We were driven by the scale of the idea and the shared passion for the poetic dimension of engineering and its sculptural potential," he said in a statement.

The Millau viaduct has drawn thousands of visitors since construction was started exactly three years ago.

The bridge will open to traffic at midnight on Friday and is expected to channel an average of 10,000 vehicles per day, with peaks of 25,000 during the summer holidays.

Eiffage will charge a toll of 4.60 euros in the low season and 6.50 euros in July and August for cars using the bridge, part of the A75 motorway linking the cities of Clermont-Ferrand to Beziers. Lorries will pay 19 euros.

Eiffage has a 75-year concession to operate the viaduct and has guaranteed the structure for 120 years.

Metrobest

chewy wrote:

why didn't they just build a road?

its not clear from the reports or pics?

There was a road already. A four-lane motorway. But it was too bendy and was very congested; apparantly the French were being stuck held up for six hours getting though the valley for their summer holidays, so they built this bridge, which is going to attract more tourists in an hour than the hill of Tara would in a year!

I love this bridge. It's very interesting as well, in the context of the M3 debate. This stunning bridge shows the beauty of road engineering; how it can compliment the landscape. If it were to have been proposed in Ireland, no doubt Stuart Townsend & Co would have camped themselves in a "save Tarn" boat along the river!

Victor

Metrobest wrote:

There was a road already. A four-lane motorway.

Really? The viaduct is the section of motorway on the left, between the two pink lines.

Map from http://www.viamichelin.com/

Metrobest

Victor wrote:

Really? The viaduct is the section of motorway on the left, between the two pink lines.

I think it's in this interesting article from the UK Independent; anyone who has a subscription can pull it up:

"The mother of all bridges

The world's longest and highest viaduct opens in December. The locals hope it will be their Eiffel tower

By John Lichfield


25 October 2004



From a distance, the bridge looks too slender and too graceful to be real, like a row of giant storks standing on abnormally long, fragile legs. Only when you approach the vast, gently dividing pillars do you grasp the scale - but also the elegance and the well-toned, concrete and steel muscle - which will make the Viaduc de Millau one of the engineering wonders of the 21st century.

Article Length: 1930 words (approx.)

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sprinkles

chewy wrote:

why didn't they just build a road?

its not clear from the reports or pics?

Wouldn't have looked as cool

I think Victor nailed it. Plus they would have needed to build up a slope to get up the far mountain which would have required massive earth works. Probably worked out cheaper and easier to build the road. Also they have to take into account of speed limits on the road. If it's a motorway (I assume it is) they want to keep the road as straight and level as possible to keep the design speeds as high as possible to increase safety.

maxheadroom

Metrobest wrote:

I think it's in this interesting article from the UK Independent; anyone who has a subscription can pull it up

Its in the attachment. No pictures, but that's what happens when you pull the article from an academic database...

Flukey

I saw the news report on it on RTE. It is a fantastic bridge.

pork99

stiofanD wrote:

7 pillars support the bridge ranging in size from 77m for the smallest to 336m for the tallest (roadway is 245m off the ground)
[/url]

245m is roughly twice as tall as the O'Connell St spike (120m)

Tiriel

pork99 wrote:

245m is roughly twice as tall as the O'Connell St spike (120m)

yikes when you put it like that!!! Why exactly did it need to be quite so high?! not that I don't think it's absolutely amazing.. just seems like such a massive project which is quite out of the ordinary!!!

dmeehan

Cork_girl wrote:

yikes when you put it like that!!! Why exactly did it need to be quite so high?!

I think it had to cross a deep valley

MrPudding

....in Millau in France on channel 5. Very interesting.

Huge bridge to be built in four years. $30000 per fine fine for running over schedule.

MrP

strassenwolf

some info/pictures on this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=209455

MrPudding

It came in six months ahead of schedule even though they suffered a landslide and had to shore up the side of a mountain which was not planned for. So 3.5 years to build the tallest and most technically challenging brige on earth.

How long did the 2nd M50 bridge take to build?

MrP

strassenwolf

Well you'll notice that the builders of that bridge get the toll concession for 75years, so things might have been even worse over here.

MrPudding

It did cost €470 million. Besides there is already a well established toll system in France which most people pay without whining. That said should you wish to not pay tolls you normally have an alternative which, in my experience, is generally not too bad.

MrP

Lord Nikon

This is the most impressive picture of it

MrPudding

Cork_girl wrote:

yikes when you put it like that!!! Why exactly did it need to be quite so high?! not that I don't think it's absolutely amazing.. just seems like such a massive project which is quite out of the ordinary!!!

If it wasn't that high the cars would crash into the side of the mountains:D

MrP

mike65

Fantastic pic! We rule our world!

Mike.

spacetweek

mike65 wrote:

Fantastic pic! We rule our world!

Mike.

Nature, feel our wrath!!

D'Peoples Voice

mike65 wrote:

http://www.structurae.net/structures/data/photos.cfm?ID=s0000351

Mike.

That's almost as impressive as Butt Bridge in Maynooth!
If you want it done right, you only have to ask the Irish!

Clinical Waste

mike65 wrote:

Fantastic pic! We rule our world!

Mike.

Who does?

Chris_533976

Whereas I agree that it was needed, I still think it looks ****ing awful.

Metrobest

Well you can't legislate for taste. :rolleyes:

Such a project could never be built in Ireland.
First there'd be the inevitable discovery of "important artaefacts"
Then you'd have people on the Joe Duffy Show whingeing about the 6 euro toll

strassenwolf

That's a fantastic picture above of the completed bridge. It's interesting that between each of the concrete pillars there is what looks like a red metal lattice pillar. Didn't see them at first.

Victor

strassenwolf wrote:

That's a fantastic picture above of the completed bridge. It's interesting that between each of the concrete pillars there is what looks like a red metal lattice pillar. Didn't see them at first.

Temporary for the construction period.

strassenwolf

Victor wrote:

Temporary for the construction period.

A-ha, now I get it, thanks. So that picture must have been taken when all the main bits were in place but they were putting the finishing touches to it.

It's still an awful long span between each concrete pillar. If I were driving across that bridge I'd feel a lot happier if they had more pillars:o

Not being a civil engineer, it puzzles me why it is necessary to have the central span supported by cables but not the other ones, even though each span along the entire bridge looks to be much the same.

Victor

strassenwolf wrote:

Not being a civil engineer, it puzzles me why it is necessary to have the central span supported by cables but not the other ones, even though each span along the entire bridge looks to be much the same.

Possibly more to do with height than span.

jlang

On the finished bridge, all 8 of the spans are supported by cables strung from towers on the piers and all the temporary supports have been removed.

See http://www.viaducdemillaueiffage.com/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct.

strassenwolf

jlang wrote:

On the finished bridge, all 8 of the spans are supported by cables strung from towers on the piers and all the temporary supports have been removed.

Aargh, of course it is:o (I had read through the whole thread a few days ago and seen the pictures of the completed bridge, but I'd forgotten all that when I saw the amazing aerial photo posted above. It really gives a good idea of how much journeying is saved by building the bridge)

Victor

MrPudding wrote:

It did cost €470 million. Besides there is already a well established toll system in France which most people pay without whining. That said should you wish to not pay tolls you normally have an alternative which, in my experience, is generally not too bad.

Except in this case the other route is full of hair-pins bends, a town and about 10km longer.