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Highest Bridge in the World Nearing Completion 425

Posted by michael from the don't-look-down dept.
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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Highest Bridge in the World Nearing Completion More

Highest Bridge in the World Nearing Completion

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  • Two Words (Score:5, Funny)

    by toygeek ( 473120 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:02PM (#9281335) Journal
    Base Jump!

    • Re:Two Words (Score:2, Informative)

      by JohnDifool ( 668882 )
      two friends of mine did it last week-end, 6 am.
      Awesome jump. They loved it.
      this bridge is gonna see a lot of base jumpers....

    • Re:Two Words (Score:2, Informative)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) *
      Base Jump!

      Back in my more fearless days I went camping in West Virginia (behind the Red Dog Saloon, near Fayetteville) for a week and some rafting on the New River. Life behind a bar seemed to begin and end days with a beer in hand and fuzzy sense of things. The sleep deprivation, brought on by thundering (and I really do mean thundering, like 150db or louder) coal trucks dashing down into the gorge every night, didn't help matters much. Eventually my bud Roger suggests we do bridge laps, in reference

    • I think it may be a new suicide spot, and thus have a lot of police/countermeasures to make sure no one jups off it, parachutes or not.
    • Darwin Awards! [darwinawards.com]

    • Re:Two Words (Score:2, Informative)

      by caeldeus ( 117480 )
      I have jumped the New River Bridge numerous times. Back when I was BASE jumping, BASE is an acronym, more heavily than now I'm sure I'd try to check this place out.

      For info check out http://www.blincmagazine.com

      Building Antenna Span Earth.

    • Check out bridge day (Score:5, Interesting)

      by The Tyro ( 247333 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @06:06PM (#9281868)
      at the New River Gorge bridge in West Virginia, USA. It's legal to jump off that bridge exactly one day per year (known, appropriately enough, as bridge day). It's not a bad way to introduce yourself to base jumping legally... jail time sucks.

      Incidently, it's only ten feet shorter than the bridge mentioned in the article (but has a much smaller landing area... people jumping the New River Gorge bridge should have good canopy control skills... it might be tough for a rookie parachutist). The only more-difficult famous base jump landing I know of is Angel Falls... there's a tiny clearing in the jungle you have to hit, or you're in the trees.

      I got invited to do my first base jump when I was a low-time skydiver (only had 13 jumps under my belt) it involved breaking-and-entering, climbing an antenna at night, jumping from said antenna, and avoiding the guy wires... needless to say, I declined. I like adrenaline as much as the next guy, but there's something to be said for living to jump another day...

      Jump smart... you'll live longer.

  • heights? scary! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ..great, something i can stand on and pee my pants lookin off of...

    im scared of heights, you insensitive clod!
    • I'm not scared of heights but I can't imagine wanting to be on such a bridge as some crazy drunk bastard comes weaving down the road in my direction. IMO the problem with many bridges is that they are to narrow and lack room to move out of the way should there be a problem. Also, many lack a sidewalk or bicycle lane which annoys me as these would be simple to add and beneficial to many people. Expecting pedestrians to go around is stupid.
  • Now that's one way to take over a seanic vista! I can't really tell from the photo, but that must have been one great view from up the valley. The constuction site has some good photos, but the server will die soon.
    • Depending on what the bridge looks like, the view might be better. I certainly think the Marin County hills look better with the Golden Gate Bridge all up in them.

      The Berkeley hills are beautiful because of, not in spite of, the houses and freeways built around them. Yeah, even the freeways.
    • And excactly why did they build it so high? I was expecting something spanning a huge gorge or other apocolyptic gash in the earth, but this thing seems to just be running over a valley. WTF? Why exactly did they build a bridge here? what's it ... well, bridging? that is, couldn't say, a 20m hight bridge, or even a plain old roadway have done just fine?

      • Re:Vista? (Score:3, Informative)

        by gaijin99 ( 143693 )
        I was asking myself the same question. Then I looked at this page [viaducdemi...iffage.com] (linked by werdnapk in another thread here) and the reason suddenly became apparent. The first photo (Flash just to keep up the use of pointless Flash), answered around 80% of my "why the heck do this" question.

        According to the English articles due to the steep sides of the valley cause massive traffic bottlenecks. Though if I'd owned a convenience store or gas station that was profiting from the bottlenecks I'd be irked ^_^

    • Now that's one way to take over a seanic vista! I can't really tell from the photo, but that must have been one great view from up the valley. The constuction site has some good photos, but the server will die soon.

      I wonder how long before this bridge features in a TdF stage. I'm sure it'll look awesome with a peloton going along it and will figure into several pictures by Graham Watson [grahamwatson.com].

  • bungee!!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by jred ( 111898 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:03PM (#9281355) Homepage
    I've never bungee jumped before, but that pic sure made me think about it. Damn! But I'm scared of heights...

  • Lowest Bidder (Score:4, Funny)

    by TheOldFart ( 578597 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:04PM (#9281365)
    Are these the same people who built the new terminal at Charles De Gaulle?

    • Re:Lowest Bidder (Score:5, Informative)

      by rilister ( 316428 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:17PM (#9281506)
      no, but the architect is Sir Norman Foster of Foster and Partners, responsible for the Millenium Footbridge [arup.com] in London that had to be closed after it was found to be dangerous... ...I'll follow you over...
      • The Millenium footbridge was not found to be dangerous, it was found to sway more than it was designed to, which might give people motion sickness.

      • Re:Lowest Bidder (Score:5, Informative)

        by misterpies ( 632880 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:53PM (#9281782)

        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.

        • Re:Lowest Bidder (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          People walk slightly in step, and on the millenium bridge this caused a minor sway, and then everybody walked in step with the sway - which made it sway even more.

          The "fault" was that the engineers didnt expect this human behaviour, and the extent of the sway made people uncomfortable. I beleive they fixed the sway by adding fairly simple dampers to it, not beacause there was any danger but because people found it uncomfortable (and probably more to the point, news coverage was embarrasing for the engineer

  • Pylons... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by th1ckasabr1ck ( 752151 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:06PM (#9281376)
    I wonder how wide those pylons are? They look like they are a decent width, but of course it's tough to tell with that perspective.

    • Re:Pylons... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Pylons? You probably mean the pillars. There are seven, each with a different height, owing to ground elevation differences:
      1. P1 : 94,50 m
      2. P2 : 244,96 m
      3. P3 : 221,05 m
      4. P4 : 144,21 m
      5. P5 : 136,42 m
      6. P6 : 111,94 m
      7. P7 : 77,56 m

      There are also seven temporary pillars, soon to be removed. The central core, north, is 717m, and wings are about 670m. At south, the central core is 1744m, with wings 1573m.

      The motorway is two lanes wide in each direction with a three-metre wide hard shoulder on each side and a

      • Re:Pylons... (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        You know your right...
        And on behave of all Americans we are so sorry we kept you from your destiny with your Nazi overlords.....

  • try this website (Score:5, Informative)

    by werdnapk ( 706357 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:06PM (#9281377)
    The posted site seems to be /.'ed already, try this [viaducdemi...iffage.com] one out instead.

    That sure is some bridge, but must be a real eyesore to those who have to live near it.

    • Re:try this website (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:12PM (#9281449)
      I drove through Millau a few weeks ago, and it is one mother-hubbard of a bridge. I didn't know it was the tallest. Millau is a really bad bottleneck and the existing road is strangled by the lorries which must use it.

      Yes it does rather look "stuck-on" to the scenery. I'm not sure why they couldn't just build a by-pass folowing the contours rather than the whopping bridge. That's my tax money paying for that.

      • Re:try this website (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Well, you Frenchmen are taxed enough, might as well use the money for something useful!

  • Er... why? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FFFish ( 7567 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:07PM (#9281399) Homepage
    Why did they build this bridge? That looks like a perfectly nice valley down there, easy to push a road through, and at 1/100th the cost and no where near the danger.

    Is this a penis boast ("I've got the biggest bridge!"), an environment issue ("No automobiles in this valley!"), an ownership issue, what??
    • It does appear there is a perfectly good valley where you could run a road much cheaper.

      My guess, it appears they wanted to keep a central theme all the way along the roadway as this portion connects to a section crossing a river.

    • Re:Er... why? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:18PM (#9281509)
      They built it because every summer thousands of cars get stuck in Millau while traveling from north to south.

      • Re:Er... why? (Score:4, Informative)

        by ThisIsFred ( 705426 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:21PM (#9281531) Journal
        Mod parent up!

        From the site:

        "Eiffage was selected to carry out this project combining the techniques of concrete with those of steel.

        Constituting the last stretch of the A75 motorway, once opened it will enable Clermont-Ferrand to be reached directly from Béziers, so getting rid of the infamous Millau traffic bottleneck."

      • Re:Er... why? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Negadecimal ( 78403 )
        They built it because every summer thousands of cars get stuck in Millau while traveling from north to south.

        Did they really need a bridge, though? Why not just build a long highway with no onramp/exit ramps. Easily the same footprint as a bridge, and without a concrete eyesore over the French countryside.

        • Re:Er... why? (Score:5, Informative)

          by ElGanzoLoco ( 642888 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @06:39PM (#9282072) Homepage
          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.

      • Re:Er... why? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Spudley ( 171066 )
        They built it because every summer thousands of cars get stuck in Millau while traveling from north to south.

        Which leads to the next question, which is why did they only make it two lanes wide each way? Three lanes would have allowed for an increase in traffic flows later on. As it is, I dread to think how easily the traffic could get backed up even with this new bridge. And I would *not* want to be stuck in a queue on a bridge like that! (man, I get vertigo just looking at that photograph!)

    • Re:Er... why? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:23PM (#9281557) Homepage
      Because the german army hates to march up and down hills, of course.

    • Re:Er... why? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bobbyque ( 693545 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:25PM (#9281569)
      For the same reason people build smokestacks...to lift pollution out of a valley. That's the Rhone Valley down there: "Millau's 20,000 residents can also breathe easier--literally--since the bridge opening will put an end to decades of environmental damage caused by the endless lines of vehicles and traffic jams." (http://www.pobonline.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/c overstory/BNPCoverStoryItem/0,2340,108886,00.html)
    • Obivously, they built the bridge to protect french culture from the cancer that is americanism. Too many people over there drive american-made cars rather than the home-grown Renault. As such, the prime minister made it a priority to get a law passed to protect people from the site of Fords and chevys. No foreign made cars are allowed below an altitude of 656 ft. 20% of the revenue from tolls will be used to firebomb McDonald's and to petition the UN to pass a resolution forbidding california vintners to ca

    • Economics (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Hobbex ( 41473 )
      They are charging about $6 per car for crossing the viaduct. If enough cars are willing to pay this rather than crawling through the valley that it pays for the project (which wasn't actually that expensive, compare USD $400 million with what some bridges over water [wikipedia.org] cost) then it makes economic sense to build it. What else is needed?

    • Re:Er... why? (Score:2, Informative)

      by orzetto ( 545509 )

      Is this a penis boast ("I've got the biggest bridge!")

      It's called grandeur and it's the psychological hideout where the French still pretend they're a nation that makes the its enemies tremble in a world where French is the world language. As a (former) neighbour of France, I can say this is the attitude that generally mostly pisses off the rest of Europe. Luckily most Frenchmen are alright persons, but the fact that chauvinism* comes from a certain Chauvin should indicate that the French culture has a lon

  • Humans rule. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Elwood P Dowd ( 16933 ) <judgmentalist@gmail.com> on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:08PM (#9281405) Journal
    (See subject.)

  • Man... (Score:2, Funny)

    by xenostar ( 746407 )
    ..I can just see the headlines. "World's tallest bridge collapses! Engineers: 'What were we thinking?'"

  • Engineering Geeks? (Score:4, Funny)

    by pipingguy ( 566974 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:10PM (#9281429)

    Does it run Linux?
  • What if that thing tilts? :-o

  • Funding? (Score:5, Funny)

    by PHP Wolf ( 629571 ) <doublecompile&gmail,com> on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:16PM (#9281494) Homepage
    There's probably a sign before you drive onto the bridge that reads: "World's tallest bridge! World's highest toll!"

  • My favorite part (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bobbabemagnet ( 247383 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:17PM (#9281504)
    From the project site: "As a truly emblematic signature of the town whose name it carries, it will, just by its very existence, lead to economic and cultural growth."

    Is it just me, or does completely bypassing a town actually hurt its economic and cultural growth?

  • Highest Bridge? (Score:4, Informative)

    by lpangelrob2 ( 721920 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:19PM (#9281517) Journal
    Does this one [royalgorgebridge.com] not count? That one's 1,053 ft.

    Maybe it's a suspension vs. non-suspension thing.

  • Is it a draw bridge? (Score:5, Funny)

    by pergamon ( 4359 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:22PM (#9281542) Homepage
    I mean, did they even bother to future-proof this thing so that when we reach the age of 300m high boats that it won't have to be torn down?

  • Not the highest (Score:2, Interesting)

    by xs650 ( 741277 )
    The height of the road surface above the water or ground below is what counts, not the fru-fru above the road surface.

    This old 1929 bridge in Colorado still has the Fench bridge beat, as do a few others.

    http://www.micron.com/k12/lessonplans/bridges/ro ya l.html
  • Having lived in Colorado, I would like to point out this bit of information [royalgorgebridge.com]. I guess it would depend on how the bridge is measured.

    Since it looks like the site is Slashdotted, I can't see all of the info. If you judge by the main span, then it looks like this new bridge may have it (886 ft compared to 880 ft). However, the Royal Gorge Bridge is 1053 ft above the Arkansas river that passes underneath it (No threat of flooding...knocks on wood).

    My guess is figuring out the world's highest bridge is som

  • Highest? Royal Gorge? (Score:3, Informative)

    by betis70 ( 525817 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:24PM (#9281558) Homepage
    Sorry but last I checked the Royal Gorge Bridge (in Colorado, USA) is still higher. Built in 1929 too.

    1053 feet. Roughly 320.95 meters. Or 50 meters higher.

    info here [royalgorgebridge.com]

  • Even more awesomer (Score:4, Informative)

    by blair1q ( 305137 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:24PM (#9281561) Journal
    Major writeup of the project:

    http://www.a75.com/viaducengl.html [a75.com]
    • That site's great, thanks.

      Makes me wonder why they couldn't have found some way for the road to descend into the valley via S turns, cross the Tarn with a bridge, then up the other side w/ more S turns?

      ~Berj

  • BASE Jumpers Have a New Toy (Score:3, Interesting)

    by geomon ( 78680 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:24PM (#9281562) Homepage Journal
    How long until the first one takes a shot at this structure?

  • More info on the bridge and Valley (Score:3, Interesting)

    by King_Pickle ( 783813 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:25PM (#9281571)
    Road Traffic Tech.com [roadtraffi...nology.com]

  • It's quite a sight (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:28PM (#9281603)
    I've been at Milau last summer, and I must say that bridge is quite spectacular, also the way it was built. During the dozen days I was there, you could see the daily progress they made as the cranes moved and the whole bridge was pushed across the pillars little by little. Amazing bridgebuilding technology, really.

    And maybe it's not evident from the pictures, but the bridge does make some sense when you look at the landscape close-up.

    And it's really big. Standing under the pillars makes it look very, very intimidating.

  • How do they get the ends to meet? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mveloso ( 325617 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:29PM (#9281611)
    If you look at the picture, it looks as if there's a bit of a dip from where the camera is to the next span.

    Did they screw up the alignment a bit then hack it to get it to work? How do they do that anyway?

    • Re:How do they get the ends to meet? (Score:5, Informative)

      by King_Pickle ( 783813 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @06:03PM (#9281844)
      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.

      From http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/mil lau_viaduct/ [roadtraffi...nology.com]
  • A Frenchman from Millau recently tossed his hat in for the Summar 2004 Darwin Awards competition. Breaking ranks with the other contestents, the 25 year old amateur bungee jumper announced his entry pre-mortem along with his decision to resign from a janitorial/IT position at Eiffage, a French construction group, to pursue his hobby for a living.

    Rumors abound, but no details were available about his upcoming performance.
  • in light of the recent collapse at the Charles de Gaulle airport in france, I'm not gonna risk my butt being the first to across it. I'll wait at least 2 years after completion (the airport collapsed less than 2 yrs after its completion).

  • More pictures (Score:4, Informative)

    by rufey ( 683902 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:52PM (#9281768)
    You can see some more pictures of this project, along with some of the artist renderings of what the thing will look like when done, here [skyscrapercity.com].

  • More information on the Millau Viaduct (Bridge) (Score:3, Informative)

    by Tandoori Haggis ( 662404 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @05:54PM (#9281788)

    I thought this meritted a search on Ixquick Metasearch http://www.ixquick.com

    Here are my choice results on the Millau Viaduct or Bridge depending on what report you read.

    http://www.bridgepros.com/projects/Millau_Viaduc t/

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3237329. st m

    http://www.viaducdemillaueiffage.com/
    N.B. This site is in heavy demand so by all means make a note of the URL to try another time / at a later date.

    http://www.construction.com/NewsCenter/Headlines /E NR/20040315d.asp

    http://www.enerpac.com/html/press_releases/Beric ht en/30014_ENG_EU.html

    Interesting to note that Sir Norman Foster was involved in this. For more info on his work try: http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Norman_Fo ster.html

  • Length of bridge (Score:2, Informative)

    by Barumpus ( 145412 )
    The length of this bridge is quite impressive. The longest suspension bridge on record is the Dames Point (Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge)in Jacksonville Florida that is about 2 miles long. It's span consisting of cables is only about 1/3 of the overall length (not sure how the whole bridge is considered suspension). This one apeears to be roughly 60% of the length of the Dames Point but is suspended cables the whole length. Seeing the Dames Point on a quite regular basis, I must say that one is very imp

  • Delicate? (Score:3, Informative)

    by InfiniteWisdom ( 530090 ) on Friday May 28, 2004 @06:34PM (#9282037) Homepage
    From here [bridgepros.com]:
    The bridge has the optimum span between cable-stayed columns. It is delicate, transparent, and uses the minimum material, which makes it less costly to construct.

    Why does this talk of "delicate" bridges not have me rushing to cross it? I realise there's more than one definition of the word delicate, but still.

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