The Millau Viaduct It connects two limestone plateaus (the Causse du Larzac and the Causse Rouge), crossing the underlying Tarn valley, whose small and winding country roads around the town of Millau are used to be heavily congested during the Christmas holidays as it was the only route through the valley. The bridge is located in the municipalities of Millau and Creissels, in the south of France. The Millau Viaduct is the last link of the AutoRoute A75, a motorway that extends from Clermont-Ferrand to Pezenas. It is a wide, continuous motorway where cars can travel at speeds above the normal speed limit, and is long and straight, allowing cars to travel across France directly and quickly. The Millau Viaduct is the highest suspension bridge in the world, with its tallest pylon measuring 343 m high and the total measured weight being 242,000 tonnes. The road itself extends for 2.46 km and is located 280 m above the valley floor. The weight of the road bridge amounts to 36,000 tons. The 4.2 m thick steel road deck has a width of 32 m, wide enough for two lanes of traffic in each direction. The total amount of concrete used for the structure was 205,000 tons. One of the great engineering feats during the construction of this bridge was the use of steel. Despite its maximum height of 343 m and a span of 2.46 km, 280 m above the valley floor, the bridge is actually quite light. 242,000 tons seems like a lot, but without the use of steel on the structure, this bridge would have been more than twice as heavy. Steel is a much stronger material than concrete, so it can support more weight with less mass. The current road deck, composed almost entirely of steel, weighs only 36,000 tons. The other 206,000 tons come mainly from the massive pylons, which are m...... half the paper ...... have been reduced and the bridge has been given a longer life. The Hampden Bridge was built to replace the Wagga Company's Wagga Bridge, a toll bridge built in 1862. The Hampden Bridge was built because it would provide the main link and one of the only links between North Wagga Wagga and South Wagga Wagga, divided from the Murrumbidgie River. The Hampden Bridge was a great asset to the Wagga-Wagga community as it allowed quick and easy access over the Murrumbidgie River to cross from north to south Wagga Wagga. Some of the disadvantages of the bridge were that after 100 years of use, in 1975, the bridge was starting to collapse and eventually, after a few years, the maintenance costs of the structure started to become too high, so Wagga Wagga Municipality closed the bridge, and there are currently plans to demolish the bridge in the future.