Millau, the highest bridge in the world
The construction of the Millau viaduct in the southeast of France was a colossal engineering effort. The piers rise 803 feet from ground level, and the bridge weighs 400,000 tons. The bridge is supported by seven huge pillars. When the thickness of the platform (14 feet) and the height of the pillars are included, the total height reaches 1102 feet. That is about 50 feet higher than the famous Eiffel Tower. Construction of this bridge required more than 350,000 tons of concrete and 40,000 tons of steel. Assembled with the precision of a Swiss watch, this giant was designed to resist winds of up to 130 miles per hour and has cost almost 300 million euros (US$523 million). Built across the mountainous terrain of the Tarn river valley, the 8071-foot long bridge is part of the A-75 freeway that connects the cities of Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers. It will shorten by more than 60 miles the route connecting Paris with the Mediterranean.
4 comments:
Who did the engineering / design work?
OH THE HUMANITY...........Stick a fork in Murph....He's done
Met a fellow named steve ryan, builds boats in Marblehead. Any familiarity with him?
I have crossed may bridges in this here life, and this one is nothing compared to the one I crossed into the land of Matalo, in search of the Jackman. Talk about a "Jesus Take the Wheel" moment, that there Bridge to Matalo was above the clouds, and dancing in the breeze. I waarn't skeert, I just had to vizualize that path, and remember to words the Dalai Lama spoke to at the Stuckey's on Route 273 just outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. His words went thusly: "You with the Lips Like the Fish the Japanese Relish - come down from that tree and face your fears. Your fear is just baby rats, nibbling on a half eaten enchilada. Do not be a rat eating half and enchilada cast aside by a gluttonous truck driver. Be the whole enchilada, that none consume and all consume, that is so rich in protein and monocotyledons that those who propose to devour you will spread your essence to the four winds. Your clinging to permanence in this transitory life assures that you will die not knowing your eternal nature." And so I cut a path across the Matalo Bridge at one with the wind, and walking on them there clouds. And the Jackman, he heard me coming, and he was afeared.
Nice bridge, but not nothin in my world view. So check your braggin'.
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