World's tallest bridge under construction

[byronleehk]

The world's tallest bridge is under construction on the A75 autoroute in Southern France.

OMG it would be light flying, not driving!

[Wouter Melissen]

Where exactly is that in France? I'll have to go down there, when it's finished.

[Lagonda]

Viaduc de Millau Between Clermond-Ferrand and Béziers/Montpellier

official website: http://www.viaducdemillaueiffage.com/

[byronleehk]

Do you think they're going to charge tolls for using them

[Matra et Alpine]

Awesome.

Never happen in the UK, the environmentalists would get it stopped for ruining the views from mummies country house

Definately sounds like a need for a trip to south of France

[EvilPaladin]

Already finished, it will open in December.

[PerfAdv]

Environmentalists always complain but this bridge impacts the land very little. Traffic passes far above the unspoiled valley. Very elegant.

[Matra et Alpine]

Looking on the web site , it IS a toll

But there is worse and I may now NOT want to go on it

The designer, Lord Norma Foster, is (IN)famous for his Millenium Bridge in London.
Looks spectacular and had to be closed and only recently had all the strengthening work done to stop it swaying so badly.
There's a clip of it ( but lo-Q ) at http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/ev...tcher22nov.ram

Hope the French construction folks made him do his calculations twice this time !!!!!

[McLareN]

Thats a great and new idea, i think that it is a magnificent structure.

[Matra et Alpine]

Environmentalists always complain but this bridge impacts the land very little. Traffic passes far above the unspoiled valley. Very elegant.

Yeah, but in the UK they complain about the look.
We've had bypasses blocled which CLEARLY showe benefit to the environment.

NIMBY is strong amongst the tree-huggers AND "townies"

[werty]

thats cool. but why did they want to make it soo tall? whats the purpose?

[Sweeney921]

they had no choice

[Niko_Fx]

That is almost unbelievable. Amazing, must be a great trip to take.

[Matra et Alpine]

thats cool. but why did they want to make it soo tall? whats the purpose?

It's a deep valley.
The original road winds it way down one side, across the bottm and up winds it way back up the other side.
If you explore the site, it shows you many pictures of the locale and it's clear then.

[Esperante]

Norman Foster has done quite a bit in America, especially Milwauke and Chicago, but since he was born and lives in the UK, most of his work is in Europe

For those of you who don't understand, I'm an architecture geek, so I have all this stuff memorized.

Wow, in terms of road height that just kicks the ass off the Sunshine Skyway between Tampa and Bradenton, which makes you feel like your car is just going to take off into space.

Well, Fosters Millenium Bridge has had many problems with it structurally (also involving wind) and that had to close for reinforcement.

The enviromentalists are stupid, but we got away with one thing like that. In colorado there is a tall freeway builtin into the sides of mountains, and the best thing is, for every tree cut down for paving another would be planted. And boy, is it a cool ride