Millau Viaduct Millau Viaduct The Millau Viaduct (, ) is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the gorge valley of the Tarn near Millau in southern France. In a Franco-British partnership, it was designed by the English architect Lord Norman Foster and French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux. , it is the tallest bridge in the world, having a structural height of . The Millau Viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers and Montpellier. The cost of construction was approximately € 394 million. It was built over three years, formally inaugurated on 14 December 2004, and opened to traffic
Orthotropic deck superstructure allowed bridge launching from both ends of the Millau Viaduct. The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge's orthotropic deck allowed the Japanese to build the longest span at about , or 50% longer than the Golden Gate Bridge. Orthotropic decks permit a very shallow deck depth which reduces the steepness of approach gradients and hence their costs. The form is also widely used on bascule and other moveable bridges where significant savings in the cost of the mechanical elements can be made where a lighter deck is used. The El Ferdan Railway Bridge across the Suez Canal of Egypt is the record