MILLAU, France (AFP) — The Millau viaduct in southern France, the world's tallest bridge, was Wednesday awarded a coveted industry award for its "elegance" and "audacity", its builders announced.
Designed by British architect Norman Foster, built by construction giant Eiffage and inaugurated in December 2004, the Millau viaduct won the Outstanding Structure Award for 2006.
Past recipients of the prize -- awarded by the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering -- include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the giant Stade de France sports arena outside Paris.
Soaring 270 metres (885 feet) -- higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris -- over the river Tarn in southern France, the bridge stretched 2.46 kilometres (1.6 miles) between two plateaux in the Massif Central mountain range.
Like a taut thread pierced by a line of needles, the silhouette dominates the countryside for miles around and has been praised as a classic marriage of aesthetics and science.
Intended to ease pressure on the saturated Rhone valley to the east, used by truck drivers and tourists bound for the Mediterranean and Spain, it has become a major tourist attraction, clocking up more than 10 million car journeys.
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