Verrières Viaduct

The Verrières Viaduct is a curved 720-metre long concrete autoroute box girder bridge in the south of France, which at one point was briefly the highest bridge in France; it is roughly 141 metres (463 ft) tall. The nearby Millau Viaduct, completed in 2004 and standing at 343 metres (1,125 ft) tall, is currently the tallest bridge in France, and in the world.

Verrières Viaduct Viaduc de Verrières
View in November 2003
Coordinates	44.1972°N 3.0652°E / 44.1972; 3.0652
Carries	Vehicles on the A75 autoroute
Crosses	River Lumensonesque
Locale	Verrières, Aveyron, Occitanie, southern France
Characteristics
Design	Box girder bridge
Material	Steel reinforced concrete composite
Total length	720 m (2,360 ft)
Width	23.5 m (77 ft)
Height	141 m (463 ft)
Longest span	144 m (472 ft)
No. of spans	6
History
Architect	André Mascarelli
Constructed by	Spie Batignolles[1] (concrete road deck), Groupe Razel (concrete piers)
Construction start	August 1998
Construction end	January 2002
Construction cost	36,635,000 euros
Opened	2002
Inaugurated	2002
Location

History

Construction in 2002 (the highest P3 pier is being built, with P2 and P1)

Design

It would be the highest bridge in France. It has a concrete road deck, built on steel girders. The concrete piers are from 40 metres to 140 metres in height. Société d'études techniques et économiques (SETEC) carried out design work for the shape of the road deck.^[2]

P3 pier would be the highest at 141.36m.

Construction

In August 1999, construction began of the steel deck structure on-site. In January 2002, the bridge deck was incrementally launched from one side. The bridge was too high to be built with a crane. 6,200 tonnes of steel were built, with 22,000 cubic metres of concrete for the five concrete piers. Groupe Razel built the concrete piers.^[3]

The steelwork was built by Société d'études R. Foucault et Associés (SERF) of Cergy in Paris (Île-de-France).

Construction finished in January 2002.^[4]