[cyprien_g]

I live a 2-hour drive from this, so I have driven on it several times. It's very impressive and always a nice part of the journey.

And it's not only beautiful, it's also very useful. Before it was built, you had to go through small roads and villages, which, in addition to taking more time, was not very comfortable for the people living there.

[Beretta_Vexee]

I remember as a child being stuck in the back seat of the car for over three hours in 35°C heat just to get through Millau.

The town is at the bottom of a very steep valley and it is very difficult to avoid (this involves extremely steep and narrow farm roads that are difficult to navigate without a small 4x4).

[willvarfar]

How has the bypass caused Millau to change?

Has it prospered or faded now that there is no through-traffic?

[prmoustache]

Given its proximity to the Parc Natonal des Grandes Causses and Gorges du Tarn it really didn't have to worry about that. It is a very touristic area.

[Beretta_Vexee]

Tourism is good, and the area is renowned for trail running, gravel biking (UCI World Series), mountain biking and paragliding.

The viaduct has made some villages on the plateaus much more accessible. Small industrial businesses have set up shop.

The only thing that sucks is that the little railway line will probably never reopen.

[gregoriol]

It has lost through traffic but gained quite some tourism to see the bridge, it's a win situation

[kergonath]

> in addition to taking more time, was not very comfortable for the people living there.

That’s quite the understatement. I remember taking one hour to get to the bottom of the valley from the Larzac, and then one hour again to get back up on the other side. We’d often stop for lunch or a coffee in Millau just to do anything at all that was not sitting in the car, but the city was entirely choked by this overwhelming traffic. The viaduct was a massive improvement. And sure, it affected local restaurants and bars, but the city is much more liveable now.

[divbzero]

I have wondered why the Millau Viaduct was built instead of a highway that descended into the valley. The descriptions in this thread make the reason clear.

[lairv]

TBH most people I know who regularly drive there still take the Millau valley route, since the viaduct toll is quite expensive at 13€ in the summer (just to cross the bridge)

[Sammi]

Doing a bit of googling it seems people report saving anything from 20 min to 1 hour by taking the bridge. But during some particular holidays, where there is lots of traffic, the saving can become 4 hours.

[lucianbr]

I suppose the 4 hours saving comes from a lot of people being on the non-bridge route, meaning a lot of people choose to not take the bridge. Is there any other possible reason for the 4 hours saved?

[bobthepanda]

It's a substantially flatter, straighter line, and much higher capacity. The valley route is only a single lane in each direction with no grade separation at intersections and you are comparing that to a four lane freeway.

[lucianbr]

> people report saving anything from 20 min to 1 hour by taking the bridge. But during some particular holidays, where there is lots of traffic, the saving can become 4 hours

You thing during particular holidays the single lane somehow has even less lanes, less grade separation and such? That would be quite a phenomenon.

[bobthepanda]

All those things get saturated much more quickly during high traffic times, whereas the freeway has substantially higher capacity to work with.

In particular most intersections on the now D809 are roundabouts, continuing on the D809 often requires making a turn on the roundabout, and roundabouts are notorious for gridlocking with high turn volumes. Let that gridlock cascade across multiple intersections and you now have rapidly deteriorating travel times.

At other times, traffic is less high so this gridlocking is less likely to occur.

[I_complete_me]

I'd say that gephyrophobia is a legitimate one. I mean, I for one would be terrified to have to cross it.