That wonderful French engineering achievement, the Millau bridge on the A75 between Paris, Clermont-Ferrand and Montpellier, has tended to obscure the fact that road building is sometimes subject to the same infuriating delays found in abundance in the UK.

Valros, a charming village in Languedoc less than half an hour from the Mediterranean, remains a nightmare in summer when the traffic from the still incomplete A75 and Béziers spur comes to an abrupt halt here on the N9. The section south west of Pézenas to Béziers is significantly behind schedule and may now not be fully open until after next summer.

What used to be a notorious bottleneck on the N109, St-André-de-Sangonis east of Clermont-l’Hérault, finally has its motorway by-pass but the final stage of the A75 into Montpellier requires another ambitious bridge, spanning the turbulent river Hérault itself. The pylons have already been driven into the river bed but a great deal more work remains to be done.