Le pont de Normandie

Le pont de Normandie

Normandie (France) 1995

Length 856m

In 1992, the Normandy bridge was one of the largest building site in France while it was under construction.

500 people were employed in three locations on the site (North bank, South bank, and workshop of Radicatel) Overall, including design offices, suppliers and subcontractors, the Normandy bridge employed over 1600 persons.

For all those who took part, this structure shows the French civil engineering know-how.

A technological leap forward

More stable to wind and less expensive than a suspension bridge, the cable stay bridge is designed as 2 balances of which the axes are pylons.

The 184 cable stays support the weight of the deck. Each cable stay can be removed separately, without blocking the traffic.

Maintenance costs are thus considerably lowered. The cable stay and the deck have been tested in a wind tunnel and can withstand winds over 300 kilometres per hour. With a 856 meters main span, the bridge of Normandy was the longest cable stay bridge in the world at the time it was opened.