Millau Viaduct mid-1998. After undergoing wind tunnel tests, the shape of the road deck was altered, and detailed corrections were made to the design of the pylons. When the details were eventually finalised, the whole design was approved in late 1998. Once the Ministry of Public Works had taken the decision to offer the construction and operation of the viaduct as a grant of contract, an international call for tenders was issued in 1999. Five consortia tendered: Piers were built with Lafarge high performance cement. The pylons of the Millau Viaduct, which are the tallest elements (the tallest pylon – ) were
Tarn (river) Tarn (river) The Tarn (, , possibly meaning 'rapid' or 'walled in') is a long river in southern France ("régions" Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées), right tributary of the Garonne. The Tarn runs in a roughly westerly direction, from its source at an elevation of 1,550 m (5,085 ft) on Mont Lozère in the Cévennes mountains (part of the Massif Central), through the deep gorges and canyons of the Gorges du Tarn (that cuts through the Causse du Larzac), to Moissac in Tarn-et-Garonne, where it joins the Garonne downstream from the centre of town. Its basin covers approximately , and it has