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 public interest to solicit design approaches for a competition. In July 1996 the jury decided in favour of a cable-stayed design with multiple spans, as proposed by the Sogelerg consortium led by Michel Virlogeux and Norman Foster. The decision to proceed by grant of contract was made in May 1998; then in June 2000, the contest for the construction contract was launched, open to four consortia. In March 2001, Eiffage established the subsidiary "Compagnie Eiffage du Viaduc de Millau" (CEVM), and was declared winner of the contest and awarded the prime contract in August. In initial studies, four potential options