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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Construction of the World's Highest Bridge


"QUANTUM SHOT" #118


Construction of the Millau Bridge in France

"The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m (984ft) high - taller even than the Eiffel Tower. With its concrete and steel pillars soaring high above the morning fog in the Tarn Valley, the construction makes a spectacular sight." (source)


(original unknown)

Construction began in October 2001 and was intended to take three years, but dragged even longer because of weather conditions. The bridge was built by Eiffage, the same company that built the Eiffel Tower.














A complicated system of hydraulic rams was used to slide the vast bridge deck into place. It was provided by Enerpac Hydraulic Systems - the company which also "lifted" Golden Gate Bridge off its foundation for better cushioning against earthquakes. Here is a diagram of pushing the bridge's deck:




"The deck was pushed in two sections from both sides of the valley. Each push cycle lasted 4 minutes and moved the deck section 600mm a time."



>





From both sides of the valley the metal sections of the bridge are assembled, lifted slightly and then in an elaborate manoeuvre pushed into place on each of the seven supporting pillars. The architect, Norman Foster, said the bridge was designed to have the "delicacy of a butterfly"





Sources and further reading: Wiki, BBC, 3, 4

Also read:
"World's Most Interesting Bridges"


Permanent Link...
Category: Technology,Architecture


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COMMENTS:

8 Comments:

Blogger Gary Green said...

Absolutely amazing! I love bridge constrution. Thanks so much for these pics!

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Blogger Jason said...

Wow. The world's most pointless bridge. Somebody obviously never heard a ramp.

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Blogger Scooter said...

One word, freaking awesome! Alright, so that was two words. :P

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Blogger Rusty said...

i've gone over this bridge twice on my motorbike, on holiday this year. it's an amazing sight from afar and the views down either side are pretty scary. it was one of the highlights of our euro tour. :-D

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Anonymous jabo said...

I have been to Paris twice,1st time 2-1991 during the Gulf War and the 2nd 9 weeks after 9-11(to bad Sadam or Ben Laden could not be at Euro Disney on ThanksGiving Day). The people in Paris were great and I cant wait to see/travel on the Bridge (where's the confounded bridge?: Led Zepplin.
What a beautiful design and most functional + the fact of Britain & France making transportation solutions.

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Anonymous Fanatic said...

Oh my.I never thought that bridges can be built above clouds.Great engineering & nice info too.

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Blogger Helena said...

What amazing photos ! I think it is quite scary to drive in that bridge, but for sure a wonderful construction work.

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Blogger vijay said...

really nice to see all these wonders///// hope some boby beat this record//// i think one more earth will arise

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