Millau, France ? Thundering fighter jets streamed the blue, white and red of the French tricolor as President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday dedicated the world’s tallest bridge, a skyway span dwarfing the Eiffel Tower by more than 50 feet.

Ahead of its public opening Thursday, the Millau bridge in southern France has been celebrated as a work of art combining the strength of cement and steel with the “delicacy of a butterfly.”

Fireworks illuminate the Millau bridge in southern France on Tuesday. When it opens to vehicles Thursday, it will enable motorists to take a drive through the sky, 891 feet above the Tarn River valley.

Stretching 1.6 miles through France’s Massif Central mountains, the bridge will enable motorists to take a drive 891 feet above the Tarn River valley.

“This exceptional opening will go down in industrial and technological history,” Chirac said.

Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the steel-and-concrete bridge with its streamlined diagonal suspension cables rests on seven pillars — the tallest measuring 1,122 feet, making it 53 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower.

Colorado’s Royal Gorge Bridge, towering 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River, is the world’s tallest suspension bridge.