The Pas-de-Calais and Somme cycle paths are now linked by the Pont à cailloux footbridge
Good news for cyclists. The Pebble Bridge footbridge depending on both banks of the Authie, from Pas-de-Calais to the Somme, was installed Thursday, October 21. The culmination of a large-scale European project launched in 2013 and aimed at soft mobility.
Due to the Aurora storm, the installation of the Pebble Bridge footbridge was more complicated than expected Thursday, October 21.
“We were dependent on the weather, the wind did not make things easier. We took our trouble patiently and waited for the gusts to decrease, because we could not intervene beyond 36km / h of wind“, explains Audrey Teitgen, project manager for cycle paths at the Syndicat Mixte de la Baie de Somme and Grand Littoral Picard, in charge of developing the cycle network on the coast.
The footbridge was finally put in place around 4 p.m.
Connect the Pas-de-Calais cycle paths to those of the Somme
With its 52 meters long and its 3.20 meters wide, the Pebble Bridge footbridge will allow cyclists and pedestrians to join the tracks of the Pas-de-Calais to those of the Somme. Because it connects Fort-Mahon and Conchil-le-Temple, finally bringing together the two banks of the Authie.
The work to begin in January 2021, seven years after the launch of the first design studies. “The idea is to absorb a black spot in EuroVelo 4, a European bicycle-road that goes from Roscoff in Brittany to Kiev in Ukraine. On the French part which is called the Vélomaritime, cyclists did not have dedicated facilities to connect the Somme department to that of Pas-de-Calais“, explains Audrey Teitgen.
Cost of the project: 1,240,000 euros. Funded by the European Union, the Hauts-de-France region and the departments of Pas-de-Calais and the Somme. Currently, work is underway to create the link path to the gateway. It should be operational by mid-December 2021.