Viaduct with larger spans, typically lack sufficient horizontal and vertical clearance for large ships. See the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by the French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, in collaboration with architect Norman Robert Foster, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft)—slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic
Millau Viaduct produced and mounted by PAECH Construction Enterprise from Poland. The "Compagnie Eiffage du Viaduc de Millau", working with the architect Sir Norman Foster, was successful in obtaining the tender. Because the government had already taken the design work to an advanced stage, the technical uncertainties were considerably reduced. A further advantage of this process was to make negotiating the contract easier, reducing public expense, and speeding up construction, while minimising such design work as remained for the contractor. All the member companies of the Eiffage group had some role in the construction work. The construction consortium was made up of