in the nineteen eighties, France built a freeway linking Paris directly with Spain 5:26

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1 0:01 This is the Millau viaduct 0:04 The tallest bridge in the world 0:06 It s highest tower stretches a staggering three hundred and 0:09 forty-three meters 0:11 so high 0:12 The bridge glides above the clouds 0:15 But this is a megastructure they said couldn t be built 0:20 When I showed first the drawing for this bridge 0:23 They really thought I was crazy 0:25 the team attempting to build this amazing freeway in the sky had to 0:29 Survive landslides 0:31 fight winds gusting at a hundred and thirty kilometers an hour 0:35 And weather massive storms 0:37 as the bridge simply hung in the balance 0:40 It s a bridge that pushes the boundaries of engineering to the limits, and then beyond 1:08 Imagine building a series of Eiffel towers 1:11 Then slinging a four-lane highway between them 1:14 all the way across one of the deepest valleys in France 1:18 impossible though it sounds that pretty much describes the building of 1:22 The Millau viaduct 1:26 from the start the construction team face three daunting challenges 1:32 One : build the tallest bridge piers in the world 1:37 Two : Put a thirty six thousand ton freeway on top of them 1:43 And three : Erect seven steel pylons 1:45 Each weighing seven hundred tons

2 1:50 And what s more 1:51 they had to do this hundreds of meters above solid ground 1:56 so high 1:57 That if you were on top of the eiffel tower 2:00 You d still be looking up 2:02 At this awesome bridge 2:26 October :27 the team breaks ground 2:29 they required to build a bridge that will last for a hundred and twenty years 2:35 and to win the contract the team promised to build it in record time 2:40 less than four years 2:43 by comparison, the world's longest suspension bridge the Akashi-Kaikyo 2:48 Japan took a full ten years to build 2:58 To up the ante, any delay will cost them thirty thousand dollars a day in 3:02 penalties 3:07 there are seven piers that are numbered of the northern end of the valley 3:11 number one will pose problems because of the steep slope 3:15 number two will be the biggest challenge, since it s the tallest 3:19- crossing the river 3:20 number three is not much shorter 3:22 then four five six and seven find the gentler slope to the south 3:34 To begin the team had to bury the foundations deep in the bedrock 3:37 in order to support the enormous weight the bridge will place on them 3:42 but the forces of nature 3:43

3 were stacked against them 3:51 geologists have warned of the risks posed by the region's fractured 3:54 limestone 3:56 The rock is full of cavities 3:58 cavities that are essential to the local cheese economy 4:01 these cave systems, close to Millau, are own to a unique bacteria 4:07 responsible for the blue mold in the world famous Roquefort cheese 4:11 But what's perfect for cheese could be disastrous for a megastructure 4:19 the geologists diagnosis spelt one thing 4:23 landslides 4:24 this kind of catastrophe could jeopardize the entire project 4:30 despite the warnings 4:32 Building went ahead as planned 4:35 Then well into construction 4:41 as predicted a dramatic storm causes a landslide 4:49 four thousand cubic meters of rock collapse around pier one 4:57 fortunately the fallen rock doesn't damage the pier 5:00 but the warning is clear 5:02 they're forced to divert precious manpower and equipment to stabilize the 5:07 slope 5:07 and prevent a repeat collapse 5:10 So if the area is prone to landslides why did they build the world's tallest 5:15 bridge here in the first place 5:17 The answer is simple in the nineteen eighties, France built a freeway linking Paris directly with Spain 5:26

4 this major artery headed south across the french countryside 5:32 While from the Mediterranean, the freeway headed north 5:37 Until they both hit one of the deepest valleys in France 5:42 And stopped dead 5:50 Welcome to Millau 5:52 France s least favorite bottleneck 5:59 the town of Millau is in the mountainous region of the massif central 6:03 One of the most tranquil parts of France 6:06 but in summer 6:07 this poor medieval town suffered traffic hell 6:11 The locals couldn t take it anymore 6:14 Neither could their mayor 6:18 It was terrible for our reputation 6:22 When you hear every day on the television or radio avoid Millau 6:25 There is a traffic backup, a five hour wait to Millau 6:30 and it's not just a people of Millau 6:33 two drivers Jemila and Jemima crossing the thirty-odd kilometers between the 6:38 freeway on either side of Millau reveal exactly why this bridge is needed 6:43 Jemila in car 33 will cross the new bridge 6:46 while in car 22, Jemima will take the old road across 6:51 the valley floor 6:54 getting straight on the freeway 6:56 car thirty three approaches the Milau bridge after just eighteen minutes 7:02 the only delay is the thirty seconds to take to get through the toll booth 7:08 then driving a hundred kilometers an hour over the spectacular bridge she takes

5 7:12 just thirty two minutes to get to the other side 7:18 Car twenty two 7:20 is just beginning the crawl for the medieval streets of Millau 7:26 cyclists pedestrians people with dogsall need to be negociated 7:35 Car 22 then has the long hall up the other side of the valley 7:40 The final timing is a staggering one hour and thirty-five minutes 7:44 over an hour longer than Jemilla who took the freeway and bridge 7:51 It s clear exactly why the bridge was needed 7:54 but it took the french government a very long time to get round to building it 8:00 twelve years before construction began up in Paris the ministry of transport 8:04 first came up with the plan 8:08 Their head bridge builder 8:10 Michel Virlogeux 8:11 is no ordinary engineer he's a man who thinks big, very big 8:17 like the normandy bridge in northern france the longest cable stayed span in 8:21 the world 8:24 with this record breaking structure completed Virlogeux was on to his next 8:29 Millau 8:30 his plan, another cable stayed bridge but pushing the technology beyond anything 8:36 previously attempted 8:37 With piers 8:38 four times higher than the normandy bridge 8:45 The Millau bridge would not only be the world s tallest 8:53 It would be unlike any bridge ever constructed 8:57

6 When I ve shown first the drawing of this bridge to the governement authorities 8:59 They really thought I was crazy Virlogeux s Normandy bridge 9:11 Has two sets of cables supporting a deck 9:15 But he wanted up the stakes for Millau 9:19 By losing one row of cables so the remaining line 9:23 Would be forced to do twice the work 9:28 More dramatically the two point five kilometer Millaubridge, instead of having a single main span needed a whole series of piers to support it across the valley. No one had attempted a multiple span single line cable stayed bridge on this scale before. The French authorities had a problem. Nervous about Virlogeux s ground-breaking scheme, they held a competition inviting other engineers and architects to compete, with different designs. The winner, lord Norman Foster, is one of the world s superstar architects. In Hong Kong, he built the world s largest airport terminal