Millau Viaduct - exceptional engineering

It is righly considered as an engineering marvel. To get the best out of this bridge you should pay a toll to cross and then take a guided tour of the bridge.

Before the bridge construction there was considerable traffic congestion and about a 2-hour drive to get from one side of the Tarn to the other by a rather circuitous route.

At a structural height of 343 m, Millau Viaduct is famous as the tallest bridge in the world. It is also renowned for its design, which was considered impossible to construct at its inception, and for being one of the greatest achievements in engineering.

Construction began in October of 2001 and took a little over 3 years - exceptionally efficient for such a large, complicated undertaking. The road deck was constructed on flat land on the north and south sides of the bridge in two large sections. Hydraulic jacks on the tops of the piers were then synchronized to move the entire deck out over the valley in small increments of about 600 mm. 

 Both sides met over the Tarn river. The only exception to this was for the two river spans where the masts and several of the stays were erected on land  before finally joining the completed bridge.

During the guided tour we saw the cable bundles and watched a demonstration of how the hydraulics worked to slide the spans into position. Very impressive, using cantilever principles. Aside from the fact it's a very necessary and practical solution to access to the area, especially Millau township, it's a beautiful construction which looks particularly ethereal when there is low cloud.

While waiting for the tour we watched some local folk dancers entertaining visitors. After the tour we spent one night in the town before heading south towards Carcassone.  You can access Millau from the Gorges du Tarn in the North or from Toulouse or Carcassone in the South.

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