The Milau Bridge

[Dave Lewis]

What about Oresund..

Couple of years ago: note the lack of bracing between the towers....very impressive.

 

[DITTRICH]

What about Oresund..

Yes, the Oresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden, EUR64 return, is the most impressive. I found myself slowing down just to take it all in.
Les

 

[Piff]

Driving to Spain this summer, via the Millau bridge. Really looking forward to it!

 

[c955]

I recall seeing this feature on Dave TV recently...from Davos to Stelvio

Top Gear's Best driving road (in a Porsche, Lambo and a Racing Aston)


.

 

[Martin]

Crossed the Millau Bridge (British designed I think?) twice a couple of years ago on the way to Spain and back. Also stopped overnight in the nearby town of Millau as it was about the half way point of the journey and viewed the bridge early next morning from the official viewing area they have built. Must have been quite a bottleneck before it opened.

This planned bridge between Italy and Sicily would have been the worlds longest suspension bridge at 2.5 miles but it was cancelled in Oct 2006 by the Italian Prime Minister...........
Sicily Suspension Bridge

 

[mumu]

Not a bridge, and again in completely the wrong direction, but I've taken a campervan over the Afsluitdijk in Northern Holland several times...

Pretty impressive for something constructed in 1933. Though I guess they may have relaid the road since then.

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

Crossed the Millau Bridge (British designed I think?) twice a couple of years ago on the way to Spain and back. Also stopped overnight in the nearby town of Millau as it was about the half way point of the journey and viewed the bridge early next morning from the official viewing area they have built.

The man who made it look nice was a British architect. Lord (Norman) Foster, or rather his firm, Foster and Partners. But the man who made it stand up was a French structural engineer, [SIZE=-1]Michel Virlogeux and a team from several French firms of consulting engineers.

Naturally,[/SIZE] the British, who mostly don't know what a structural engineer does, hail the Millau viaduct as a product of Lord Foster's firm of architects. The French, who do understand the term "professional engineer" and protect it in law, know that it was designed by French engineers and made to look nice by British architects.

Meanwhile, for a structural engineer's opinion on the adulation (perhaps un)justly given to Foster and Partners, try following this link:

The stunning Millau Viaduct: Engineers take second billing again

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

My understanding is that the problem with the Forth Road Bridge is not wear and tear but corrosion.

The corrosion would not be such an urgent issue were it not for the fact that traffic is running at several times the level that the structure was designed for, with lorries weighing twice as much on average.

The suspension cables and hangers are therefore carrying higher loads than they were ever expected to have to cope with. There was a substantial safety factor designed in to the structure. However, that has been partly eroded by the much greater volume of traffic, lorry weights that have increased far beyond what could have been predicted in the late 1950s/early 1960s when the bridge was designed, and the unexpected corrosion in the suspension cables and hangers.

The corrosion is therefore only one of several factors, but it is of course the one that has been seized on by the media.

 

[Dryce]

The corrosion is therefore only one of several factors, but it is of course the one that has been seized on by the media.

My understanding is that it is the primary factor.

The capacity/traffic volume issue is a major economic justification for a higher capacity replacement or additional bridge.