Talk:Millau Viaduct

Tallest vs. highest distinction, confusion re the Baluarte bridge

I've just reverted an edit by someone who wanted to switch the Millau Viaduct from tallest to second-tallest, in favour of Mexico's recently opened Baluarte bridge as the tallest. This claim is inconsistent with the careful distinction between tallest bridges and highest bridges made on the relevant pages. I note that the editor also did not attempt to modify the list of tallest-bridges-page, which still puts the Millau Viaduct at the top, making for an inconsistency.

Tallest, as defined elsewhere on Wikipedia, is talking about the distance from the base of the structure (where it emerges from the ground or the water) and the top of the structure, e.g., the top of a tower or pier. Highest, on the other hand, is talking about the distance from the road deck to the ground or water beneath. It is only on this second measure that the Baluarte bridge seems to be really remarkable, at 390m. The distance from the base of the Baluarte bridge's structure to the top of the piers is actually not listed anywhere in the news articles that I could see, but from the published diagrams here http://highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Baluarte_Bridge it seems that it is probably no more than 200m maximum.

So, as impressive as the Baluarte bridge is, it really should not be listed as the tallest. In fact it is not the highest bridge either, but I believe it possibly qualifies as the world's highest cable-stayed bridge?

Please don't revert the edit again without defending your reasoning here on the talk page.

81.159.49.168 (talk) 10:26, 6 January 2012 (UTC)