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Highest Bridge in the World Nearing Completion
An anonymous reader writes "A weekend cookie for all engineering geeks out here. The central span of the Millau bridge (270 meters or 886 ft) has been completed!" The photo is awesome.
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That sure is some bridge, but must be a real eyesore to those who have to live near it.
Well, in fact, they are the same folks... 2E airport terminal was built by Vinci and Eiffage. Millau viaduc is built by Eiffage alone.
no, but the architect is Sir Norman Foster of Foster and Partners, responsible for the Millenium Footbridge in London that had to be closed after it was found to be dangerous... ...I'll follow you over...
'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it' - Eeyore
They built it because every summer thousands of cars get stuck in Millau while traveling from north to south.
Double inaccuracy... first of all, the millenium bridge was by Lord Foster, not Sir Foster (if you think such details are irrelevant, try talking about Congressman Kerry and Prime Minister Bush). And secondly, it was never found to be dangerous. It was closed temporarily when it was found to sway several feet from side to side under heavy foot traffic due to an unforeseen resonance at around the frequency of human walking. (Frankly, this was the falt of the engineers more than the architect.) This was fixed by adding a few dampers and now it's perfectly steady.
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
The road will have two lanes (3.50m each) on each side and will run at about 270m above the river Tarn. The Millau Viaduct will not be straight. A straight road could induce a sensation of floating for drivers. A slight curve will remedy that. The curve will be of 20km in range. Moreover, the road will have a light hill of 3% to improve the visibility and reassure the driver. A 3m wide emergency lane will bring increased security. It will, in particular, prevent drivers from seeing the valley from the viaduct. As the bridge will be exposed to winds of up to 151km/h, side screens will reduce the effects of the wind by 50%. The speed of the wind at the level of the road will therefore reflect to speed of the wind found at ground level around Larzac and Sauveterre.
l lau_viaduct/
From http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/mi
IIRC, a LOT of trucks take that road every year, so building a road around Millau still solves just part of the problem: it will be a lot easier and faster for everyone to just take a straight line rather than going down in the valley, through the valley, and up again. IIRC, they claim the trips will be 1 to 2 hours shorter thanks to the bridge -that's less time on the road, therefore safer overall, less pollution etc...
This is an entirely private project, the french govt didn't want to pay for it. That's bad for the drivers though, who will have to pay a lot of money to cross the bridge.
Hello! I'm a disaster waiting to happen!