Detour Pit Stop #08: Millau Viaduct, France
There is always something special about driving over a bridge. The transition between earth and air, a sensation somewhere between driving and flying.
And when that bridge is as extraordinary as the Viaduc du Millau in southern France that feeling is magnificently magnified.
Rising 1,100ft from the floor of the Tarn gorge this Norman Foster designed wonder is the tallest bridge on the planet. It’s 1.5 miles long, giving you plenty of time to soak in the views down the valley below and marvel at its construction.
Completed in 2004, it cost almost €400 million to build, so it’s hard to argue with the price of the toll to cross it.
There’s a visitor centre some 30 miles north on the A75 if you really want to explore the feats of engineering and architecture of this incredible human endeavour.
Detour’s last trip across was top-down in a Mazda MX-5, which really made it a multi-sensory adventure, but whatever you drive it’s an unforgettable experience.
Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
Photography Luca Onniboni / Unsplash
Roadbook
Class: Bridge
Name: Millau Vaiduct
Route: A75
Country: France
Length: 1.5 miles