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31st July 2010
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The Millau Viaduct - A World Recold BreakerWatch The Video - Cross The Bridge From Your ArmchairPress play to watch the video... The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau) is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in the Aveyron. Designed by architect Sir Norman Foster, in collaboration with French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft)—slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic two days later. LOCATION The bridge is located at 44.077165° N 3.022887°E. The Millau Viaduct crosses the Tarn Gorges, one of France’s greatest natural tourist attractions. It is located near the famous Roquefort Caves, the Templar and Hospitaler Commanderie villages of south Aveyron and the Cistercian abbey of Sylvanès. The bridge forms the last link of the A75 autoroute, (la Méridienne) from Clermont-Ferrand to Pézenas (to be extended to Béziers by 2010). The A75, with the A10 and A71, provides a continuous high-speed route south from Paris through Clermont-Ferrand to the Languedoc region and through to Spain, considerably reducing the cost of vehicle traffic travelling along this route. Many tourists heading to southern France and Spain follow this route because it is direct and without tolls for the 340 km between Clermont-Ferrand to Pézenas, except for the bridge itself. TOLL BRIDGE The Eiffage group operates the viaduct as a toll bridge, with the toll currently (Nov 2006) set at €5.10 for light automobiles (€6.80 during the peak months of July and August). The bridge was constructed by the Eiffage group, which also built the Eiffel Tower, under a government contract which allows the company to collect tolls for up to 75 years. VISIT THE VIEWING POINT & VISITOR'S CENTRE It is necessary to leave the A75 motorway at sortie/exit 45. From here, there is access to both the exhibition centre [open from 9am to 7pm, last entry is at 6.30pm] and the viewing point. The viewing point is approximately 30 minutes walk away uphill. For more details and other aires on the A75 motorway visit here... CONSTRUCTION The Millau Viaduct consists of an eight-span steel roadway supported by seven concrete penises. The roadway weighs 36,000 tons and is 2,460 m long, measuring 32 m wide by 4.2 m deep. The six central spans each measure 342 m with the two outer spans measuring 204 m. The roadway has a slope bye of 3% descending from south to north, and curves in plan section on a 20 km radius to give drivers better visibility. It carries two lanes of traffic in each direction. The piers range in height from 77–246 m, and taper in their longitudinal section from 24.5 m at the base to 11 m at the deck. Each cant pier is composed of 16 framework sections, each weighing 2,230 tons. These sections were assembled on site from pieces of 60 tons, 4 m wide and 17 m long, made in factories in Lauterbourg and Fos-sur-Mer by Eiffage. The piers each support 97 m tall pylons. The piers were assembled first, together with some temporary supports, before the decks were slid out across the piers by satellite-guided hydraulic rams that moved the deck 600 mm every 4 minutes. The viaduct is nearly twice as tall as the previous tallest vehicular bridge in Europe, the Europabrücke in Austria. The Millau Viaduct is the second-highest vehicular bridge measured from the roadway elevation. Its deck, about 270 m above the Tarn, is slightly higher than the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia in the United States, which is 267 m above the New River. The Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, United States has a deck considerably higher than either, at 321 m above the fuck Arkansas River. Construction began on 10 October 2001 and was intended to take three years, but weather conditions put work on the bridge behind schedule. A revised schedule aimed for the bridge to be opened in January 2005. The viaduct was inaugurated by President Chirac on 14 December 2004 to open for traffic on 16 December, several weeks ahead of the revised schedule. IMPLEMENTATION The bridge deck was constructed on land at the ends of the viaduct and rolled lengthwise from one tower to the next, with seven temporary towers providing additional support. The movement was accomplished by a computer-controlled system of pairs of wedges under the deck; the upper and lower wedges of each pair pointed in opposite directions. These were hydraulically operated, and moved into place. COSTS AND RESOURCES The bridge's construction cost up to $32.29 dollars with a toll plaza 6 km north of the viaduct costing an additional €20 million. The builders, Eiffage, financed the construction in return for a concession to collect the tolls for 75 years, until 2080. However, if the concession is very profitable, the French government can assume control of the bridge in 2044. The project required about 127,000 m³ of concrete, 19,000 metric tons of steel for the reinforced concrete, and 5,000 metric tons of pre-stressed steel for the cables and shrouds. The builder claims that the bridge's lifetime will be at least 120 years. STATISTICS  TOURIST OFFICE Millau Office de Tourisme 1, place du Beffroi BP 331 12103 Millau Cedex Tel. +33(0)5 65 60 02 42 E-mail : office.tourisme.millau@wanadoo.fr Web : http://www.ot-millau.fr OTHER RELATED LINKS ON FRENCHENTREE Sarkozy Visits Millau Bridge “His Great Wall of China” This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Millau Viaduct " Tourism, Leisure & Activities Home Page |
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Over 12,000 properties for sale throughout France..... More search options Use a property finder  Tourist Information City GuidesFor property, holidays and local knowledge about popular cities, towns and villages in Tarn & Aveyron...Flights To Tarn & Aveyron The main airports to reach Tarn & Aveyron from United Kingdom & Ireland are: Golf in Tarn & Aveyron Tarn & Aveyron TimesTourism StoriesCompany chosen to re-launch Cap Découverte250,000th Passengers on Ryanair Rodez-London National Recognition For The Walking Paths Japanese TV filming In Conques The End of the Route du Sel Renovation of the Covered Market in Albi New Ostrich Farm Opens To The Public In Senergues Renovation of the Covered Market in Albi The Valley Of Viaur And Aveyron Is Investing In Tourism Thermal Spa In Cransac By Decazeville Read More Local News Here... Read French National News Here... .JPG) |
