12/8/2004: Millau viaduct
 

http://cellar.org/2004/millauviaduct.jpg

This is a new construction in southern France. The Millau viaduct will connect a new A75 motorway from Paris to Barcelona above the River Tarn and 2.5 km of valley below.

I had not seen this before and it is a thing of beauty. It's been under construction for about four years. It has the tallest bridge piers ever, thus once opened next month it becomes the highest bridge in the world.

Amazingly, it was privately funded. It will be a toll road.

more info

So France can make more than chocolate after all, huh?

That is a beautiful bridge.

wow, that is beautiful. it almost doesn't look real.

do they get earthquakes and such in France? i bet it won't be long before that bridge is featured in a disaster film or a chase scene, etc.

I think Billy posted an above-the-cloud pic of this bridge a while back but this shot shows just how dang high it is. Wow!

What it should look like when completed:

http://www.vicat.com/picts/inter/act...ansport1_a.jpg

That is so cool! It's amazing how they managed to design a structure that looks nothing like the surrounding environment, yet doesn't detract from it. Almost like how the Golden Gate Bridge makes the views in SF even more beautiful. Neat! :thumbsup:

Oboy.. The french police gonna have a lot to do when this thing is finished.
Basejumps,"hurry-to-the-next-world" guys,graffiti and oh.. ,this might
sometimes be OK, bungeejumping.

If that "riverpillar" is actually hitting the river, then they have a dam too. :)

There is a similarly structured, but much smaller, bridge that crosses the Delaware Canal.

I can't wait to go see this thing, it's an engineering marvel.
Of course the road that actually finishes the connection won't be done for a few more years, great planning work there.

"Of course the road that actually finishes the connection won't be done for a few more years"

They will cross that bridge when they get to it.

well done jbolty :notworthy

Somewhere I have pictures from inside the crane cab. All the amenities and a glass floor, too. :yelsick:

Think they'll allow fishing from the bridge? ;)

It looks like the future

What a beautiful valley that is.
Cant wait till its littered with 10,000,000 ciggarette butts from car windows, macdonalds packets and hub caps.

The construction of this bridge appears to be very similar to the construction of our convention center here in KC. The roof deck is suspended from cables, anchored to vertical pillars in much the same fashion. I think Chicago's is also built this way. Try to ignore the astoundingly ugly "artworks" atop each pylon, especially the one that looks like a giant haircurler.

Oh my...I might have to travel to France just to see/travel on that. I'll bet the views are spectacular from the top. I wonder if they're going to put outlooks anywhere along or near the bridge for people to stop and look out over that valley. That valley screams photo-op.

That and BASE jumping. :eek:

I am amazed at the obstacles mankind can overcome when willing. However, I am baffled by the lesser immenent problems that man either overlooks or is unwilling to challenge for whatever reason.

It appear that the design is a new twist on a suspension bridge. Let's hope they did their homework and it doesn't go the way of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/tacoma3.html
:dead:

Neither overlooked nor unwillingness.......It's potential profit that spurs development. When we were a nation of people that could do things with our hands, often people would come up with a solution to their particular problem, then they or someone else would take that solution and market it.
Now, we rely on others to invent solutions for problems we don't know we already have. :rolleyes:

Ive read and seen the start of the building off the tallest building somewhere in Asia....i live close to France but never heard or seen anything about this!
Its a spectacular view and gives many possibilities to different people, but it looks to unreal to me...in a piece off nature like that, it just doenst fit! Dont dont have Quakes like u all know them in France...but they will have a pretty good terrorist-target!

Cable-stayed bridge. Differs from a classic suspension bridge in that the load is carried entirely from the towers, not the anchorages. I think they're also different in that the deck is a structural element; in a classic suspension bridge the deck is just hanging from the cables that make up the bridge.

Better later than never....

You have LOTS of photographs (more than 300) of this viaduct in all stages of construction in

http://www.structurae.net/structures...fm?ID=s0000351

Enjoy them.

I"m sure you understand that my reply was a metaphor. THe bridge crossing the mighty obstacle. My point was when people get together to solve proplems an answer can be attained. Bidges of this size, take extreme time and fortitude to complete. It takes may years to accomplish such a feat.
My question is, why not put the same effort to some of lifes social and economic problems that have exited ten times longer than it took to build the bidge. If we are depending on others to invent solutions for our individual
problems; shame on us!!!!!!!!!

tell me about the potential profit margin in beating drug addiction, homelessness, and unemployment and i'll solve all 3 in 2005.

If the profit potential is large enough, make that the first quarter of '05. :)

As if the thing wasn't already impressive enough, they went and shot fireworks off of it for its inauguration.

Also, here's a pretty funny article about the inauguration. He points out something I hadn't thought of, while staring at its beauty: "Amidst all this hyperbole, it's easy to overlook one of the fundamental truths of modern engineering: it is extremely hard to build an ugly bridge."

http://katc.static.worldnow.com/imag...c/bridge_3.jpg

http://img155.exs.cx/img155/9184/milaubridge8dl.jpg
Sexy fog shot.

I'm kinda wondering though, what kinds of things will happen to this bridge when terrorism gets involved.

That shouldn't be a problem since the french support the terrorists. ;)

Ahhh, you mean like the USA did with Iraq contra Iran, Contras, Pinochet and Bin Laden in Afghanistan?

Aw c'mon Red, you don't believe those silly rumors, do you. :lol:

Of course you can detract from its clean beauty by adding an obnoxious fireworks display... but thats just me... and lottsa folks with autism and those poor SOBs who thought it'd be nice to have a ballpark in the neighborhood and folks with hearing loss and folks with battle fatigue and never mind I blame GB for all French martial displays :alien:

I really hope that red tower is just a temporary support that hasn't been removed yet. It really looks out of place.

[quote=axlrosen]"Amidst all this hyperbole, it's easy to overlook one of the fundamental truths of modern engineering: it is extremely hard to build an ugly bridge."

Well no, Aahnold is pushing a very ugly one in SF. Here is a slideshow of the Millau with one photo of the proposed SF Bay Bridge. Click on the link to Mark Moford's article.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/art...otes121704.DTL

I see a lot of blaming of Bush and Arnold for things which happened back in 1998...

I see stupid people.

Just look at that doctor they may be sending to jail for life because he gave medicine to people he thought were in pain.

Back then they generated a lot of visionary designs. Arnold's part is subsequently saying it is the slab or nothing for budgetary reasons.

He's a classic example of a political prisoner, right here in the good old USA.

yes but what does it smell like ;)

If it gets people from point A to point B and doesn't fall apart in an earthquake, it IS a beautiful bridge.

San Francisco (and Oakland) deserves to have a bridge they can be proud of crossing the storied bay. A work of art, a beautiful design that’s worthy of the great city. They should have the bridge they are willing to pay for. No federal money, no state money, a ‘Frisco bridge they bought and paid for. :)

Not so. San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it would be shameful for them to build that ugly piece of crap. I've spent a lot of time in the Bay Area and can't imagine that the people there will ever allow that version of a bridge to be built. The French can build a beautiful, safe and functional structure. Why can't we?

that bridge rof SF SUCKS !!!!!!
This bridge in France is KILLER looking !!!!!!!!!!!!

It may prove to be a killer, Zip. ;)

We won't know if it's safe and functional until they run traffic over it and it doesn't fall down. The aesthetics are secondary.

It may prove to be a killer, Zip.

Bruce , with all the computer power and most eggsalant simulation progs out there i DOUBT VERRRRRRRY seriously that they haven't antisapated for the traffic , and for weather and geoligic considerations .
And if not well it will be yet ANOTHER reason to hate the French !!!!!! ;)

When the cost of these kinds of public works get passed off on the public at large it is annoying no matter how attractive the structure. I'm glad this is a toll bridge so the cost will be bourne by the user. San Fran should do the same thing if they need a bridge. NYS recently put a pretty little bridge across the Susquehanna into Owego. It does make a nice entrance into town landing right at the courthouse but it would've been nice to have the users pay for it. If you know anything about NY politics these kinds of projects are not by any stretch determined by need but rather by political clout.

Anybody see the numbers on the Big Dig? I read somewhere that the cost of the dig is going to be about $25,000 for every man woman and child living in the city of Boston. Runaway expenses have everything to do with cost shifting.

As far as saftey goes its my understanding that this is a proven design developed to eliminate the occilations that wrecked the Florida bridge. Look at all the countryside they didn't destroy building it. And it is freaking beautiful, I'd pay to drive it.

Yeah I'm sure that was done to the max (It was for the WTC also) but don't hate the french for it as I'm sure the British Architect handled that.
Keep in mind however shit happens, mother nature is highly creative at times but more importantly any symbol of national adoration becomes a target to ememies of that nation. ;)

To true bruce , to true !!!