Seven piers
Like sails.
W. Bulach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stefan Krause, Germany — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Richard Leeming from London, UK — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Père Igor — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tobi 87 — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Millau Viaduct is a multi-span cable-stayed bridge across the valley of the Tarn west of Millau, in the Aveyron department of southern France, about 5 km west of Millau and 87 km northwest of Montpellier in a straight line. The design team was led by the engineer Michel Virlogeux and the English architect Norman Foster; it took three years to build and was inaugurated on 14 December 2004. It was the world's tallest bridge for more than two decades, with a structural height of 343 metres. It is part of the motorway from Paris to Béziers and Montpellier and cost about €394 million. The slender white deck stretches across the deep valley on seven towering piers, each topped by a mast fanning out cables like a boat's sails. Mist often fills the valley in the morning so the bridge seems to float above the cloud, with the green plateaus of the Causses around it. Visitors view the bridge from its dedicated rest area on the motorway, from valley villages such as Peyre, or from Millau. The visitor centre has an exhibition about its construction, and tours beneath the bridge are sometimes offered.
Like sails.
A bridge above the cloud.
A view from below.
West of Millau, Aveyron, Occitanie, France
From the rest area or Peyre village.
Yes, by car.