Millau Viaduct

A detailed look into its construction

Joseph Rei Mark Co

CE 124

Overview
A cable-stayed road bridge that links
the motorway from Paris to
Barcelona
Designed by French bridge engineer
Michel Virlogeux
Longest cable-stayed deck
Tallest vehicular bridge in the world

Overview

Significance of the Project

1980s
France built A-75 motorway that links
Paris and Spain
Before two roads can meet, they reach
one of the deepest valleys in France
Motorists have to make a detour into
Millau vicinity

Significance of the Project

Route map of the A-75 Motorway

Significance of the Project

CETE Mediterrane
-assigned to conduct the preliminary studies to
determine the route of the highway
4 Possible Routes
Yellow Route - Great Eastern
Black Route Great Western
Red Route near RN9
Blue Route - Intermediate

Significance of the Project

Map of the Possible Routes

Significance of the Project

Opposition to the Project
World Wildlife Fund
France Nature Environment
National Federation of Transport Users Association
Reasons of opposition:
Route to the west is better
Objective of the viaduct will not be achieved
Revenues collected will never equal initial investment
Level of difficulty of construction is so high
Viaduct will cause a deviation

Technical Design
A pool of international experts was
established
-chaired by Jean-Francois Coste
February 1995
-proposals were narrowed to
five
general
designs
July 15, 1996
-a decision was made by the
jury
chaired by Christian
Leyrit

Technical Design
Design chosen was the
cable-stayed bridge
presented by Sogelerg,
Europe Etudes Gecti
and
Serg
and the
architects Foster +
Two major challenges:
1. Crossing the Tarn
River
2. Making two plateaus meet
Solution:
-Uses seven pylons
plans were approved
near the end of 1998

Contractors
1999
-international call for tenders

was issued

Compagnie Eiffage du Viaduc de Millau

(CEVM)
-led by Eiffage
-won the bidding

Contractors
Other consortia who participated in the
bidding:
A consortium led by the Spanish company Dragados, with
Skanska (Sweden), and Bec (France)
Socit du Viaduc de Millau, including the French companies
ASF, Egis, GTM, Bouygues Travaux Publics, SGE, CDC Projets,
Tofinso and the Italian company Autostrade
A consortium led by Gnrale Routire, with Via GTI (France)
and Cintra, Nesco, Acciona et Ferrovial Agroman (Spain).

Contractors
Breakdown of roles in the construction
work:
Eiffage Group

Eiffage TP concrete
Eiffel steel roadway
ENERPAC hydraulic launching system
Eiffage (pre-stress division) prestressing
of pillar heads
Eiffage Concessions management

Contractors
PERI sliding shutter for the piers
PAECH Construction Enterprise (Poland)
pylons
Appia bituminous coating
Forclum electrical installations
Freyssinet, subsidiary of the Vinci Group
stay-cables
Greisch (Belgium) steel deck
Setec engineering group project authority
Socit Nationale des Chemins de fer franais
(SNCF) exhibit partial control of the project

Stages in Construction
December 14, 2001
-first stone was laid

December 16, 2004

-viaduct is opened to the public

Stages in Construction
A. Raising the Piers
- each pier was supported by 4 deep shafts, 15
meters deep, 5 meters in diameter
-16, 000 tons of steel bars were used

Parts of the viaduct

Stages in Construction
-every three days, each pylon increased in
height by 3 meters

Table 1: Height of the

Piers

Stages in Construction
B. Launching the Deck
-The operation was automated by Buonomo with a
welding robot and plasma cutting machine.
-This was the longest launch ever attempted over
the highest piers in the world.

Stages in Construction

Diagram of launching the steel roadway

Legend: (P) Pier, (T) Temporary steel tower,
(C) pier support

Stages in Construction
C. Meeting at the Junction
May 28,2004
-north and south deck met
-result of 21 months of

intense work

Stages in Construction
D. Installing the
Pylons
-Each massive pylon
measure 90 meters high
and weighs 700 tons.

Anchorage of pylon to the

pier

Stages in Construction
E. Installing the Staycables
-the 154 stay-cables are
expected to protect
roadway from sagging or
collapsing
-stays can be composed
of 55 to 91 high tensile
steel cables

Tensioning of the steel

strands

Stages in Construction
F. Installing the Electrical System
-30km of high-current cables, 20km of fiber
optics10km of low-current cables and 357
telephone sockets
were installed
-viaduct also employs the state of the art in
terms of
instrumentation

Stages in Construction
G. Laying the Road Surface
-The team from Appia laid a special
bituminous surface

to the road

-The road surface added 10,000 tons to the

load carried
by the
bridge.

Timeline in Construction
December 14, 2001

Laying of the first stone

December 16, 2001

Work begins

January 2002

Laying pier foundations

March 2002

Start of work on the pier support

C8

June 2002

support C8 completed, start of

work on piers

July 2002

start of work on the foundations of

temporary,
height adjustable roadway
supports

August 2003

start of work on pier support C0

September 2002

assembly of roadway begins

Timeline in Construction
November 2002

first piers complete

February 25-26, 2003

laying of first pieces of roadway

November 2003

completion of the last piers

May 28,2004

meeting of the roadways at the

junction

2nd half of 2004

installation of the pylons and

shrouds, removal of the
temporary roadway supports

December 14, 2004

official inauguration

December 16, 2004

opening of the viaduct (ahead of

schedule)

January 10, 2005

initial planned opening date