Highest bridge

[Peter Stahl]

Got this email from someone, really cool picture.


Open to FULL SCREEN..........You won't believe your eyes!!! What engineering!!

There was a really good documentary on the construction of this on Discovery or TLC a month or so ago. It's located in southern France, and is the highest bridge in the world. See: http://bridgepros.com/projects/Millau_Viaduct/ for details of location and construction. It is a truly amazing piece of engineering, especially considering the method used to span the distance between the piers. BTW the red towers you see in the photo were removed following completion of the bridge.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

As someone with a well defined fear of heights, and an irrational fear of bridges in particular, what I have to say about that would cause the monitor to censor my reply...but it would start with, "Holy". :eek:

KC

[Jim Hager]

I don't know if I could cross that bridge and I durn sure could not have worked on it. I hate heights, someone my size makes a pretty good size dent in the ground when landing.:eek: :o

[Gary Herrmann]

if thats real, I'd have to stop the truck, switch places with my wife and close my eyes while she drives across. I just got off the roof - cleaning out the gutters. I think I'm good to about 20 - 30 feet, and then I start getting freaked out.

[Andy Hoyt]

The bridge is indeed cool. But why did they bother building it. Seems to me they could have cut across that valley floor quite easily. Maybe they were just boasting about their "shoe size".

[Ian Barley]

The bridge is indeed cool. But why did they bother building it. Seems to me they could have cut across that valley floor quite easily. Maybe they were just boasting about their "shoe size".
Andy - like most of man's endeavours, there was not an absolute necessity to build this. However, the road that sits on it is part of the French autoroute system. As such it is constructed within parameters for its curvature and rate of climb/descent. This means that they either turn the road into a switchback which is a transit bottleneck or they stick to the parameters and the distance involved adds hours to the journey time.

Therefore they built it to meet one of man's basic desires - to achieve more faster. I, for one, am delighted that in doing it they built a breathtaking structure. The day that I don't look at an achievement like this and feel my heart soar I hope it is because it has stopped beating.

[Andy Hoyt]

Ahh! It's a superslab interstate.

That would make it a red road on most maps.

Not meant for the locals, huh?

[Lee DeRaud]

I just got off the roof - cleaning out the gutters. I think I'm good to about 20 - 30 feet, and then I start getting freaked out.The thing is, anything over 30 feet or so will probably kill ya, it's just a question of how long you have to think about how stupid you were before you hit. I don't have a problem with heights, but I think ladders are the work of Satan:eek:.

[Ian Barley]

That would make it a red road on most maps.


Blue on ours!

[Andy Hoyt]

Blue on ours!

Does this explain why you guys drive counter clockwise over there? :D

[Bill Lewis]

Does this explain why you guys drive counter clockwise over there? :Dwouldn't that be "anti-clockwise" in proper brit speak

[Joe Tonich]

Man........I'd hate to have THAT bridge on my route plowin in the winter!! :eek:

I thought the Valleyview bridge was bad........;)

Joe

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I am scared of heights as well!! I am sure I could drive over it just fine, but I wouldn't be stopping and looking over the edge! :)

[Duke Phelps]

Little bit to high for me ,:eek: i like tunnels:D

[Dave Richards]

FWIW, that shot was done with a panoramic camera which make the bridge look considerably longer than it is. Attached (hopefully) is a screen shot from Google Earth of the area. This was shot before the bridge was built although it appears that construction had already begun.

The road is the light band running from the upper left corner diagonally toward the middle of the right side. The road with the switchbacks on the left in the view posted by Peter can be seen here on the right side of the river.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/weekender410/millau.jpg

[Rob Bourgeois]

Last years Tour de France crossed that bridge. They said the cross winds were really bad...

[Vaughn McMillan]

I can't help but notice the seemingly high percentage of us who are afraid of heights (add me to the list). Maybe there's something in the sawdust?

Cool bridge, BTW. I've seen the wide-angle shot before, but it must have been a heck of a project to work on.

- Vaughn

[Andrew Ault]

The wide angle distortion in the picture might make it seem longer, but it is a very long...and high bridge. It is 1.55 miles long (2.5 km) and 919 feet high (280 meters). The combination of length and height is very impressive to me.

Here is another photograph:

[Dave Richards]

The combination of length and height is very impressive to me.


I agree 100%.

I thought the Sortland bridge in Norway was scary. It looks like it is about 10' wide and it's high enough for a cruise ship to pass beneath. Then of course there is the tunnel to Magerøya which runs for 7.5 km under the sea down to 212 meters. :eek: Just wet, raw rock between you and the ocean above. Weird thing to see a guy on a bicycle riding through there with cars and tour buses zooming by.

[Bob Weisner]

It would make a great bridge to go bunge jumping off of!!!:D

[Bob Weisner]

They are going to charge people 6.5 Euros to cross that bridge. Wonder what that would be in US dollars?

[Andy Hoyt]

About 8 bucks

[Fred Voorhees]

I have to wonder how "earthquake proof" that span is. Looks pretty darned vulnerable.

[Ian Barley]

I have to wonder how "earthquake proof" that span is. Looks pretty darned vulnerable.
I don't think it's in a particularly active part of the world from that point of view.

[Bill Lewis]

The wide angle distortion in the picture might make it seem longer, but it is a very long...and high bridge. It is 1.55 miles long (2.5 km) and 919 feet high (280 meters). Is that 919 ft to the road deck, or to the top of the highest tower?

Here's another rather impressive bridge (http://www.nps.gov/neri/bridge.htm) (for height at least) right here in the US. They even allow bungee jumping and parachuting from it.

[Jerry Clark]

I watched a program on Saturday about the bridge-- they did something that had never been done before-- they built the road part of the bridge on land and used hydraulic jacks to slide the sections from each end onto the pillars. Then bolted the two sections together. It was amazing to see the huge pieces coming together. Lined up perfect. :eek:

[James Ayars]

My wife and I crossed New River Gorge on our way to Pittsburgh a couple years ago. My grandfather was a coal miner so we stopped at the miners museum on the north side of the bridge.

A couple of my employees go there to rock climb each year.
James

[Neil Bosdet]

I thought it was this years TDF? Maybe it was last years??? I remember the commentators talking about it. Apparently (and understandably) the people the inhabit the town in this valley are pissed. The tour passed them by and so do all the travelers now. Their economy from travelers has gone.