All you can really say is: WOW! Taller than the Eiffel tower.. stunningly beautiful, and it completes another link from Paris to the Mediterranean.
The BBC has an excellent article include video background.
It cost $US500 Million to contruct over nearly 15 years.
It was actually built under a British/Franco partnership, but the contruction was done by Eiffage (French site), the same people who built the Eiffel Tower.
Here is the Bridges’ official website (English). It is a toll bridge, costs about $6 to cross it. Heck, I’d pay that just to cross it and it sounds like provides a major thoroughway for traffic heading through the otherwise mountainous and slow Central Mountains (Massif Central) of France (a beautiful area, by the way).
I would love to see something like this built in Victoria… they could build one from Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay. If they managed to do it as aesthetically and environmentally pleasing as this bridge then it’d be a success. The problem is, I don’t think I’d pay a toll everyday on my commute.
We need to follow Frances lead… but we need to do so starting at where they were 50 years ago with the development of rapid/mass transit from rural to urban areas.
There is simply not enough development of rail resources in North America. Too many rail lines are growing weeds where they could be moving people. We need to have the same vision that Europe had 50 years ago, and realise that in order to sustain the growth of our cities, and the beauty of the natural environment that we have left, we must think effeciently, and not simply build more roads, bridges, and tunnels.
Certainly now, with the price of oil permanently above the $30 mark, the economics of transport have changed.
The difference between Europe and North America as respects mass transit is population density. The wide open spaces cry out for highways not railroads to the average North American. We all want to toodle around in our private auto conveyance at our own pace. So, until that attitude is changed, railroads will not become popular. The price of oil may accelerate the change of attitude and demand is driving it up, up, up so who knows maybe real demand for RRs is just around the next decade?
Certainly population density is a key factor in transportation planning, however, I believe this issue is more of a “did the chicken or egg come first” situation. If governments build roads people will use them because driving will be rapid and affordable. Conversely, when railroads are built, and reliable, affordable service introduced, people will use them. What people want is rapid, convenient, affordable transportation. Both roads and railroads can accomplish this, but railroads have the advantage of improved esthethic and environmental advantages. If you build it, they will come…