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= Millau Viaduct =

The Millau Viaduct was designed by British Architect Norman Foster and Structural Engineer Michel Virlogeux. The bridge is the tallest in the world with a pier and mast rising 1100 feet (335 meters) above the ground. It is also the highest cable stayed bridge in the world. The bridge connects the A75 motorway in the southern end of France.

History
The design of the bridge began in 1991 with Michel Virlogeux. He was an engineer working for a firm by the name of Setra. A design competition helped change his initial design into what would become the Millau Viaduct. According to the article from the website highestbridges.com the design was put together by Bernard Gausset of EEG, Sogelerg and Serf and a British architect firm Norman Foster and Partners. They helped create a design that was approved by a committee of experts, politicians, and specialists in 1996. After it was approved, they designed and tested some more for 2 years and came up with the final design. Construction then began in 2001 and took a little over 3 years to build. Most of the construction was done by Eiffage, which is one of France's largest building contractors. Freyssinet were the ones who installed the wire cable stays. The construction was completed and the bridge was inaugurated on December 14, 2004. The first traffic was then allowed on December 16, 2004. According to Wikipedia.com the cost of construction was about 418,000,000 US dollars (394,000,000 euros).

Construction
Construction began on December 14, 2001. First they started out by digging 4 shafts per pylon. The shafts were 49 feet deep and 16 feet in diameter. They were large to help make sure the pylons were stable. At the bottom of each pylon was a tread 10-16ft in thickness to help with the deep shafts. It took around 2000 cubic meters of concrete for the treads. Then in March 2002 the pylons were starting to be constructed. Once the pylons were constructed the speed of construction began to increase. They were putting up 13 feet of pylon every three days. Once the pylons were constructed they had to begin putting the deck on. They achieved this by constructing the decking on land and then rolling it out from pier to pier. They also put in eight temporary pylons to help support the decking before the mast and cables were put on. Once they had enough decking on the would bring out the mast to go on top and connect the pylons and decking and mast and cables all in one. Once everything was on and connected they could create the tension needed to support the bridge overall and take down the eight temporary supports helping keep the bridge up. After the construction was completed they calculated the amount of resources used and according to Kaushik from amusingplanet.com, "The project required about 127,000 cubic meters of concrete, 19,000 tonnes of steel for the reinforced concrete and 5,000 tonnes of pre-stressed steel for the cables and shrouds."

Timeline

 * 16 October 2001: work begins
 * 14 December 2001: laying of the first stone
 * January 2002: laying pier foundations
 * March 2002: start of work on the pier support C8
 * June 2002: support C8 completed, start of work on piers
 * July 2002: start of work on the foundations of temporary, height adjustable roadway supports
 * August 2002: start of work on pier support C0
 * September 2002: assembly of roadway begins
 * November 2002: first piers complete
 * 25–26 February 2003: laying of first pieces of roadway
 * November 2003: completion of the last piers (Piers P2 at 245 m (804 ft) and P3 at 221 m (725 ft) are the highest piers in the world.)
 * 28 May 2004: the pieces of roadway are several centimeters apart, their juncture to be accomplished within two weeks
 * 2nd half of 2004: installation of the pylons and shrouds, removal of the temporary roadway supports
 * 14 December 2004: official inauguration
 * 16 December 2004: opening of the viaduct, ahead of schedule
 * 10 January 2005: initial planned opening date

Location
According to Wikipedia.com, "The Millau Viaduct is located on the territory of the communes of Millau and Creissels, France, in the département of Aveyron. The bridge now traverses the Tarn valley above its lowest point, linking two limestone plateaus, the Causse du Larzac and the Causse Rouge, and is inside the perimeter of the Grands Causses regional natural park."