The viaduct of Ventabren (Bouches-du-Rhône) is located at around ten kilometres from the town of Aix-en-Provence on the High Speed Railway (LN5) which was inaugurated in June 2001 between Valence and Marseille.

The viaduct of Ventabren on the A8 motorway

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It is the longest viaduct (1730 metres) of the Mediterranean TGV line. It crosses the A8 motorway called "La Provençale" in the plain of Eguilles.

Its insertion in the typical landscape of Provence, next to the "Sainte-Victoire" Mountain depicted by Paul Cézanne, has particularly been studied.

The viaduct of Ventabren near Aix-en-Provence TGV

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This imposing viaduct contains 36 piers (hexagonal shafts). The piers look like shafts topped by capitals. Above these piers, there is a roadway with a corbelled construction.

Large view on one capital

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In order to avoid the disturbances on the A8 motorway during its building, the central elements of the viaduct (2 spans : 100 metres in length, 3,760 tons for each span) were built parallel to the motorway. Four hours were finally needed for each span to rotate and to stand in a straight line along the other elements of the viaduct.

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