One of southern France’s main north-south routes passes through Millau in the Tarn valley. It was increasingly becoming congested, especially in the summer due to holiday traffic on the route from Paris to Spain. A bridge was proposed to bypass Millau and a cable-stayed design with eight spans designed by the French engineer, Michel Virlogeux, and English architect, Norman Foster, was chosen as the preferred option.

Construction would require high concrete towers or pylons to be constructed from the valley floor. The highest was pylon 2, at 245m. The streamlined steel road deck was constructed at both ends of the viaduct, and pushed horizontally onto the pylons at a rate of 60cm every 4 minute cycle. Once the road deck was completed the masts were driven out across the bridge, erected on top of each concrete pylon and 11 pairs of cable stays installed per span. The total height of tower 2 is 336m, which was the world’s highest at the time of construction..

The Millau Viaduct received the 2006 Outstanding Structure Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) for being ‘an elegant, slender bridge soaring above a deep valley connecting two plateaux which was constructed using an innovative launching procedure which advanced the state of practice in bridge construction.’

Michel Virlogeux, the bridge designer and structural engineer, has designed many other long-span bridges including the Pont de Normandie, Vasco de Gama in Lisbon, and Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Third Bosphorus) in Istanbul.