Drac Suspension Bridge, Pedestrian suspension bridge in Mayres-Savel, France.
The Drac Suspension Bridge is a steel structure that spans across the river to connect Mayres-Savel with Lavars. The footpath is quite narrow and leads hikers directly over the water, with the river flowing far below.
Design studies for the bridge were carried out by the Alpes-Ingé and ERIC engineering offices. Because the site was barely reachable by land, a temporary cable car was installed and equipment was flown in by helicopter; the works ran from March to August 2007. The bridge was inaugurated on 14 August 2007 on the initiative of the Sivom du lac de Monteynard-Avignonet, as part of a project costing about 1.5 million euros excluding tax for both footbridges.
The name "passerelle himalayenne" refers to the type of narrow cable-stayed footbridge with a mesh deck, a design borrowed from Himalayan crossings. The Drac bridge is one of two such spans over the lake, with the Ébron bridge; together they let walkers and cyclists link both shores on the 30 km trail around the lake. By 1 July 2008 the two bridges had carried nearly 50,000 people.
Access is available from both sides via marked hiking trails that are well signposted. The bridge is walkable year-round, though it requires careful steps on the narrow metal grating.
The deck is only 1.2 metres wide and the cables that carry it are 56 millimetres in diameter, each able to hold 60 tonnes, the weight of about 800 people. The slope reaches 16 to 18 percent at its steepest, and the deck hangs 45 to 85 metres above the water depending on the lake level.
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