Millau Viaduct in France

In the southern French valley of Tarn lies the Millau Viaduct, an engineering masterpiece spearheaded by English architect Lord Norman Foster and French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux. The multi-span cable-stayed bridge was completed in 2004 and opened to the public, although it’s often used in the summer rather than the winter, as you can’t successfully cross it when it’s snowing.

The 2006 recipient of the Outstanding Structure Award stands taller than the Eiffel Tower, measuring 343 meters in height. It took about three years to get the 886-foot-long bridge ready to solve the traffic menace, particularly that of tourists en route to Spain for summer vacation.