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I'd get vertigrease driving over that!
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We sat/crawled for 3 hours this year through Millau and have to say that the bridge is the most spectacular achievement.
It looks so elegant and spectral hanging in the air above the valley like something from a science fiction film. The French certainly have a way with dramatic structures.
We will certainly be looking forward to crossing it next year.
There was a Discovery documentary a few weeks ago about the construction. The way they built it was quite incredible, moving massive lengths of the structure over the abyss using hydraulic jacks to lift and slide the sections.
Bravo !
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Apparently the architect is British.
The builders have a 75 year lease to collect tolls.
I hope the oil doesn't run out before then!
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The builders have a 75 year lease to collect tolls. I hope the oil doesn't run out before then!
Hmph. The Tay bridge was only open for 19 months.
Let's see, £500,000,000 at £4/crossing... 125,000,000 crossings... say a 10-year timeframe, no extrapolation for costs... 12,500,000 crossings per year, approx. 34,000 per day... 1400 per hour.. 23 cars a minute.
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ob,
I would think the French have got it right - after all the QEII bridge paid for itself in about 10-12 years, I think, at £1 a crossing. (something like 50m crossings per year though). French also have a fair bit of experience with their big bridges - they seem to see them as a challenge and bung them up all over the place. Probably took them less time to build and less money than we have been messing about with on the M6 bridge whose name escapes me at the moment - Thelwall? and the elevated sections of M1 near Sheffield, M6 N of Birmingham etc.
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The problem of the bridges on the M1 and M6 is they are much more heavily trafficked than the bridge in France will be.
The bridge in France will be quiet during the winter - so we are lead to understand. The Thelwall viaduct at Warrington over the M6 carries something like 120,000 vehicles a day??? many of them HGVs. Its no wonder they wear out.
However the poor quality materials for the second span of Thelwall have lead to the current roadworks which took 2.75 years to do and were completely unnecessary if the job had been done right on Day 1.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Does anybody think that some people may get a bit nervous when they drive over this? Not just from terrorism but from the sheer height of the thing?
I still get a bit edgey travelling over the Queen Elizabeth bridge at Dartford although i've done it many many times. It's the vertigo. I get quite anxious (go on laugh!) so don't think i'll be going over this one.
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What an amazing structure. Do they have conservationists in France, I wonder? (other than those who try to stop foreign words creeping into the French language)
Cheers, SS
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French are much more realistic when it comes to these things: Although Millau was where Bovez burnt down the local McDonalds! I too have seen this thing in construction. Anyone see it on the 22:00 news last night? Driving over a cloud filled valley: Wow! but on a sombre note: how long till the first suicide? (I live near the Humber bridge)
Tim{P}
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True, the QEII Bridge paid for itself, but the Government then slapped on a permanent toll.
Would the same happen in France: I don't think so, the barricades would have gone up on day one of the extension, we just roll over on our backs and give up.
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Apparently the architect is British.
Yes, its (Sir?) Norman Foster. I must admit to not being a great fan of some of his designs but this is just magnificent. The structure is obviously huge and very strong but it manages to seem both graceful and delicate too.
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"Lord" I believe; also responsible for the Swaying Bridge of London Town.
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"Lord" I believe; also responsible for the Swaying Bridge of London Town.
Yes, but I think the engineering group was responsible for th swaying rather than Lord Foster.
This bridge is absolutely fantastic! Who votes for a BR trip to see it?
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This bridge is absolutely fantastic! Who votes for a BR trip to see it?
The area is well worth a visit in itself. We've had several holidays there and there are so many things to see; The cheese caves at Roquefort, the Tarn Gorges (About 8hrs canoeing for about £10) caves with stalactites etc, medaeival villages, Knights Templar ruins. Markets at Millau and Lodeve. A huge plateau with deep canyons and gorges cut through it - drive along a long straight road in any direction and suddenly you are faced with a hairy hairpin descent down to the valley floor........
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British architect, French engineering, a true Franco/British project. Except the French will say it is all theirs, as they did with Concorde and the Airbus.
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Why do you think "bridge" ends with an "e"?
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Why do you think "bridge" ends with an "e"?
Because if it ended with an "j" it would be very difficult to say ?
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Mark - it's an old joke, revised for this thread. Think Concord vs Concorde
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Patently - I did realise. I intended to pretend to miss the point by as far as was possible.
Clearly I pretended more convincingly than I intended.
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Why do you think "bridge" ends with an "e"?
'cos the makers had altready fitted an "e" to the end of "Porch", and thought it looked poshe.
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Why all this fuss over a French letter?
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Why all this fuss over a French letter?
Coat? Coat? I left my coat around here.... Oh, Budu has got it.
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