The A75 is an '' autoroute'' (

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

) in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Known also as ''la Méridienne'', it is a developmental project aiming to speed up, and reduce the cost of car travel from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to the south of France. Apart from the

Millau Viaduct The Millau Viaduct (, ) is a multispan cable-stayed bridge completed in 2004 across the Canyon, gorge valley of the Tarn (river), Tarn near (west of) Millau in the Aveyron department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Region, i ...

, it is free for the entire between

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

and

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

. It was not due to be finished until spring 2011, but was fully opened in December 2010. South of St. Flour there are views of the Garabit viaduct. A large portion of the A75 is also part of the European route E11.

Engineering achievements

The building of a motorway across the Massif Central, in itself, poses engineering challenges. Much of the motorway runs at an altitude in excess of with in excess of . The greatest engineering challenge was the

, which carries the road over the Tarn. It was constructed under a government contract with the Eiffage group, effective for 75 years. Eiffage collects tolls at agreed rates making this the only tolled part of the A75. Other features include: Viaducts and bridges * Viaduc de la Violette, long, between junctions 21 & 22 * Pont sur la Truyère, long, between junctions 30 and 31 * Viaduc du Piou, long, between junctions 38 and 39 * Viaduc du Ricoulong, long, between junctions 38 and 39 * Viaduc de la Planchette, long, between junctions 38 and 39 * Viaduc de Verrières, long, between junctions 44 and 44.1 * Viaduc de la Garrigue, long, between junctions 44.1 and 42 * Viaduc de Millau, long, between junctions 45 and 46 Passes * between junctions 24 and 25 * Col de la Fageole, , between junctions 26 and 27 * Col des Issartets, , the highest point on the A75, between junctions 36 and 37 * Col de la Fagette, , between junctions 40 and 41 * Col d'Engayresque, , between junctions 44 and 44.1 Tunnels * Tunnel de Montjezieu, , long at an altitude of , between junctions 39.1 and 40 * Tunnel de Pas d'Escalette, southbound, northbound, between junctions 50 and 51 * Tunnel de la Vierge, , between junctions 52 and 53

The route

:† ''The section between junctions 59 and 61 (the Pézenas by-pass) was not technically motorway and was still designated as the N9, despite the depiction on most maps. Work to upgrade the section to full motorway status was carried out between September 2013 and June 2014.'' In May 2007, construction started on the final section of the A75, a connection from Pézenas to the A9 autoroute a kilometre or so east of the previous

east intersection 35. The route to the south of the present D609 Pézenas-Béziers road bypassing Valros opened in February 2009. Further sections opened in spring 2010. The final section, a gap between Valros and Servian, was completed in December 2010. According to Serge Cuculière, construction operations manager, the delay was due to difficulties encountered on the section ("''Les difficultés recontrées sur la section exigent un temps de réalisation plus important''").

References

External links

*: tourist information * (Note: The distances on this site are inaccurate) * Three noteworthy areas described with photo illustrations and sketch maps. {{DEFAULTSORT:A75 Autoroute Autoroutes in France