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The bridge is 23 metres taller than the Eiffel
Tower | |
A bridge officially designated the tallest in the world is to be
inaugurated in southern France -- a spectacular feat of engineering that
will carry motorists at 270
metres (885 feet) above the valley of the river Tarn.
Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the Millau motorway viaduct stretches for 2.46
kilometres (1.6 miles) between two plateaux in the Massif Central
mountain range and when it opens Thursday will remove one of the country's
most notorious traffic bottlenecks.
Built of steel and concrete at a cost of 390 million euros (520 million
dollars), the bridge rests on seven pillars, one of which -- dubbed P2 --
climbs to 343 metres above ground level, making it 23 metres higher than
the Eiffel Tower.
Like a taut thread pierced by a line of needles, the silhouette
dominates the countryside for miles around and has been praised as a
classic marriage of aesthetics and science. More than 60,000 people have
already paid for tours of the construction site.
"A work of man must fuse with nature. The pillars had to look almost
organic, like they had grown from the earth," Foster said.
The viaduct is not only the tallest in the world -- outstripping the 282-metre towers of
the Akashi Kaikyo bridge in Japan -- it is also the longest cable-stayed bridge. The Tatara
Ohashi bridge in Japan is 1.48 kilometres long.
The highest bridge in the world -- measured by distance from deck to
ground level -- remains the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, US which is
320 metres (1,053 feet) above the river Arkansas.
President Jacques Chirac will officially launch the Millau bridge at
Tuesday's ceremony, almost exactly three years after work began. Some
3,000 people have been employed by the French construction giant Eiffage,
which holds the right to draw a toll for the next 75 years.
The bridge was commissioned in order to open up a new north-south route
across central France and relieve pressure from lorry-drivers and tourists
bound for the Mediterranean
and Spain in the saturated Rhone valley corridor to the east.
Eiffage is predicting an average of 10,000 vehicles per day, with a
peak of 25,000 during the summer season when tariffs will be increased. If
the bridge proves unexpectedly profitable, the French state has the right
to take possession from 2044.
(Agencies) |
一座經官方認可的“世界最高橋梁”即將在法國南部舉行落成典禮，隨著這座外觀宏偉、設計精湛的建筑工程的竣工，開車人可以從塔恩河上方270米（885英尺）處橫跨塔恩河河谷。
這座由英國建筑學家諾曼·福斯特設計的密佑（高速公路）高架橋長達2.46公里（1.6英里），坐落在法國中央高原山脈的兩大高原之間。這座橋將于星期四（12月6日）開放，疏通法國最頭痛的交通瓶頸之一。
整座橋梁由鋼鐵和混凝土建成，耗資3.9億歐元（5.2億美元）。橋身由七根墩柱支撐，其中有一根編號為P2的柱子高度超過地平線343米，比埃菲爾鐵塔還要高23米。
密佑高架橋的側面輪廓就像一根繃緊的線被一排針刺透一樣，它綿延幾英里，俯瞰四周鄉野，被譽為美學和科學的經典結合。目前已經有超過6萬人參觀了該橋的建筑工地。
“人類的杰作必須和自然融為一體。這些柱子看上去必須非常接近自然形態，就像是從地里長出來的一樣。”福斯特說。
密佑高架橋不僅是世界上最高的橋梁（超了日本明石海峽大橋282米高的橋頭堡），也是世界上最長的斜拉橋。日本多多羅大橋的長度為1.48公里。
如果按照從橋面到地面的距離來算，世界上最高的橋仍然是橫跨阿肯色河之上，高320米（1053英尺）的美國科羅拉多州皇家峽谷大橋。
法國總統雅克·希拉克將在周四的落成儀式上正式宣布啟動密佑高架橋，此時距工程開工已經幾乎整整三年了。法國建筑業巨頭埃法日集團共雇傭了大約3千人參與施工，并將擁有今后75年的通行稅征收權。
修建該橋是為了開創一條穿越法國中部的新南北路線，緩解來自前往地中海和西班牙的卡車司機和旅游者的壓力。之前，人流主要通過業已飽和的羅納河谷通道往東。
埃法日集團預計平均每日的車流量約為一萬輛，在通行稅漲價的夏季高峰期則可達到兩萬五千輛。如果事實證明密佑高架橋的贏利能力大大超出預計，法國政府有權從2044年起收回橋梁的經營權。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-12-15 10:44