The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau, IPA: [vjadyk də milo]) is an enormous cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near Millau in southern France.Designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest bridge in the world, with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) — slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 37 m (121 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building.The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Montpellier. Construction cost was around €400 million.It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004, inaugurated the day after and opened to traffic two days later.The bridge won the 2006 IABSE Outstanding Structure Award

The bridge’s construction broke three world records:The highest pylons in the world: pylons P2 and P3, 244.96 metres (803 ft 8 in) and 221.05 metres (725 ft 3 in) in height respectively, broke the French record previously held by the Tulle and Verrières Viaducts (141 m/463 ft), and the world record previously held by the Kochertal Viaduct (Germany), which is 181 metres (594 ft) at its highest;The highest bridge tower in the world: the mast atop pylon P2 peaks at 343 metres (1,125 ft).The highest road bridge deck in Europe, 270 m (890 ft) above the Tarn River at its highest point. It is nearly twice as tall as the previous tallest vehicular bridges in Europe, the Europabrücke in Austria and the Italia Viaduct in Italy. It is slightly higher than the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia in the United States, which is 267 m (876 ft) above the New River. Since opening in 2004 the deck height of Millau has been surpassed by several suspension bridges in China including Siduhe, Balinghe and two spans over the Beipanjiang River. In 2012 Mexico's Baluarte Bridge will surpass Millau as the world's highest cable stayed bridge. The Royal Gorge suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Colorado is also higher with a bridge deck approximately 291 metres (955 ft) over the Arkansas River.

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