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The Millau Bridge: France Unveils World's Tallest BridgeFrance's newest wonder, a bridge that pierces the sky above the verdant hills of southern France, was officially inaugurated Tuesday as fighter jets roared overhead leaving a trail of red, white and blue smoke.
President Jacques Chirac lifted a French flag from a plaque and dedicated the Millau span, which is billed as the world's tallest roadway bridge.
"Mission accomplished,'' Jean-Francois Roverato, president of the Eiffage construction group that built and will operate the bridge, said at Tuesday's ceremony.
When it opens to vehicles on Thursday, the bridge will enable motorists to take a drive through the sky _ 270 metres above the Tarn River valley for a 2.5-kilometre stretch through France's Massif Central mountains.
"This exceptional opening will go down in industrial and technological history,'' Chirac said, praising the bridge's designers and builders for creating "a prodigy of art and architecture -- a new emblem of French civil engineering.''
The bridge will serve as a symbol of "a modern and conquering France,'' he said.
Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the steel-and-concrete bridge with its streamlined diagonal suspension cables rests on seven pillars -- the tallest measuring 340 metres, making it 16 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower.
The bridge, which has an airy and fluid appea
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15/12/2004 | Viewed 14,373 time(s)
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