What is Digg?129 Comments
- dylanmat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+88Most?
- joerod, on 10/12/2007, -5/+43wow this is amazing! us humans are damn smart! (most of us)
- aussieNickuss, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30The sides of the valley are too steep to build a road down. I read about this more than a year ago when the construction was completed. The existing road could only go around the valley, and the bridge has reduced travel time by so many hours.
Its not actually a bridge....its a viaduct. Is that the same thing? =) - diggsIt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24Base jumpers the world over, smile.
- AJRiddle, on 10/12/2007, -18/+41Its amazing that they would waste that kind of money building it! That has to cost billions! Why not simply make a road going through the valley, that looks easily feasible (since there are already some there).
- OverThere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23There was an awesome Discovery/TLC show on this a while back. I'm sure it's on the net somewhere, but my tubes are clogged at work and can't find it.
- Extreme Engineering
-- Episode Number: 18 Season Num: 2
-- Millau Viaduct - scatteredbomb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Hence the "appears"
- pcgeek101, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Um ... um ... um ... I have no words for how awesome that is.
- fuzZzy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15"The bridge was opened by President Jacques Chirac. In his speech he praised the design saying that it was a ‘monument to French engineering genius’ and ‘a miracle of equilibrium’.
The bridge was entirely privately financed and cost 394 million euros (272 million pounds, 524 million dollars). The aim is to cut the travelling time to southern France, removing the bottle neck at Millau, through the completion of the motorway between Paris and the Mediterranean."
http://www.technologystudent.com/struct1/millau1.htm - gcpeart, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17This is tangential, but bare with me.
In Clark's Fountains Of Paradise the main character is an architect/engineer who designs a bridge between the Gates of Hurcules. In his age they have auto-pilot on cars, and so he didn't put railings on his bridge. He was forced by the investors to add them for "personal comfort" but lamented that he would rather have people drive off his bridge then mar is beauty. - ohmar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15@laxmaniac3773
Hey, you should probably tell them that, i bet they hadnt thought of wind when they designed it.
honestly.... - garf83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14It's great how it appears to rise above the clouds.
- bitt3n, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16@ajriddle
Ted Stevens must have more influence than we thought... - vitaboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The most amazing thing about the bridge was how little it cost (only about $500 million).
Now compare that to CalTrans trying to make the new Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge here in the SF Bay Area....the final tab will be north of $9 billion+ and it will have taken more than a decade to do.
The good old American spirit of building something strong, fast, AND on budget (e.g. Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge) has been crushed by the culture of pork barrel politics that dominate both the Republican and Democratic party, and all the government agencies that are the beneficiaries of that money. It's amazing how little bang we get for the buck these days ($100+ billion a year in fed education dollars yet practically last in student achievement in industrialized countries, 500+ billion a year in health care yet all we have is an expensive, broken system with millions uninsured....the list goes on and on, you could definitely say, too, that Iraq shouldn't be in the state that it is today given all the money we've spent there)
So this bridge, I think, is proof that the biggest problem facing American today is we're probably wasting 90% of all the money we spend, no matter what kind of politics you subscribe to. I say this is the strongest argument to fight against bigger governments and higher taxes because the politicians will flush it into a system that consumes almost all of it for little return. - fuzZzy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10If you jumped, you'd have time to contemplate your death on the way down.
- ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Those crane operators have balls of steel!!
Simply an amazing feat of engineering. - DiggsOnlyNeoCon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Was cool 2 years ag... wait... still awesome.
- heythisismyname, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10If you want to google earth it i think i found it.... the coordinates are [ Lat 44° 5'6.32"N ] [ Long 3° 1'12.55"E ] (it is being constructed)
- verifex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I bet they have a really big "DO NOT SPIT OR THROW THINGS FROM LEDGE" sign all along that thing.
- diddle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8skyfire1 - just build a bridge and get over it
:) - GopherGod, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I absolutely hate driving on long bridges, and this one would really make me nervous.
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Crane operators get paid a *****, don't worry.
- levyjl1988, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Cool, but ***** scary, imagine driving off that thing! I hope they put tight barriers at all sides of it...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6during high traffic times, it took almost three hours to transverse that valley!!! It was a busy road that basically connected two freeways. The bridge was badly needed for years.
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"Some people here actually have lives and are too busy to be clicking refresh 24/7"
Instead they spend their time replying to the people who do so. - mr.hostility, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10If he has an abundance of oil, or WMD's! (Well, at least #1)
- SPThom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5...yes. *turns red*
(River Tam is a character in Firefly/Serenity, if anyone was wondering.) - cheizzz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Why they didnt just build a road through the valley?
because this bridge is there to replace the old road which leads thousands and thousands of cars through the old villages on roads that cant handle the traffic.
by building this bridge the holiday-goers will save at least 1 1/2 hours of going through the valley, the villagers will be able to breathe again and the french state will get some nice money from the toll. and it looks awesome, off course. - MilkDaddy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5They kept costs low by building the roadway on land at each end and 'pushing' it out across the base piers. http://www.technologystudent.com/images4/milbrid6.gif Very ingenious :)
- montiff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@overthere, looked but could not find.
Please link if you find it.
Looks really interesting. - Hensworth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's that high because it spans a valley. It's not like they built it that high for ***** and giggles.
- mcwizard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4wow thats freakin high, or is it just me?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4no, I'm high too.
- scrimaxinc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6That's not fog, its low-laying evaporated water............everyone knows that.
- vagarach, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It's just optimism :D.
- duddles, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I read the replies just to see if anyone else did the same thing!
You can't take the sky from me... - MajorD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@Giraldus - I agree with you. The SF Bay Bridge is an embarrassment when compared with the Millau bridge. The Millau bridge was completed before schedule and under budget.
- bultaco370, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'd probably ***** myself if I went over that on a bike...
I wonder what wind gusts up there must be like. - 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5already been done by the germans. its chronicled in the writings of neiche
- toasterking, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Did anyone else read that a River Tam and get unnecessarily excited?
- Comanche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=1918854154630582296&q=top+gear+zonda%2C+ford+gt%2C+f430
This bridge is done and it has been on top gear a while ago.
Its at 20:00 exactly. Video is the episode where they compare the Zonda, Ford GT and F430. Good watch.
Utube version with better sound quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6L0wNeCsQ8 - efinit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3here is a video of a guy driving across on his motorcycle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5oz-E1lj2o
short video from underneath the bridge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ab_XNmkgic - sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ajriddle
The bridge's construction cost up to €394 million, with a toll plaza 6 km north of the viaduct costing an additional €20 million. The builders, Eiffage, financed the construction in return for a concession to collect the tolls for 75 years, until 2080. However, if the concession is very profitable, the French government can assume control of the bridge in 2044.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct - kayosthery, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@jblade
$100,000 / year plus here in Chicago. - ericeman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Ha, I read the same thing and thought I was alone... crazy picture!
- retral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Perfect for BASE jumping
- LowRentDiggs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow, took about 30 threads for some douche to mention "surrender", WWE RAW must be on.
- carbonetc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Not much to see on Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=44.085089,+3.020153&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=44.085088,3.020167&spn=0.016307,0.042658&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr
- RockinRoel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That's indeed a pretty cool bridge, I've seen it in real life. It's not so impressive when you're actually on the bridge, though.
It was necessary to avoid traffic congestion in July and August and really shorten what would otherwise be a big detour.
You have to pay a toll, though. But hell, it's France, you have to pay tolls all the time anyway! - osc1882, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, But will it blend.
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