Toulouse. Where is the pedestrianization of the Pont Saint-Pierre promise by Jean-Luc Moudenc?
Through Gabriel Kenedi
Published on
It was one of the promises of Jean-Luc Moudenc during the 2020 municipal election campaign: pedestrianization of the Saint-Pierre bridge.
“Close the Saint-Pierre bridge to cars”
Small reminder of the facts: at the end of January 2020, the mayor-candidate declared himself in favor of the pedestrianization of the Saint-Pierre bridge, which “must be returned to pedestrians and cyclists by closing it to cars, ”he said at the time.
A proposal which had just echoed the idea of Nadia Pellefigue, the socialist candidate, to prohibit the Pont-Neuf to motorists “solution difficult to implement”, then estimated Jean-Luc Moudenc. “The current flow of the Saint-Pierre bridge can be redirected towards the Catalans bridge, nearby”, added his faithful deputy Jean-Michel Lattes, the ” Mr. Transports “ de la Ville stood up.
The press kit reported on the closure of the Saint-Pierre bridge to cars, to create a bicycle and pedestrian axis between La Grave and Place Saint-Pierre. The bridge would be like this a unique belvedere on the city “.
Backpedaling a few days later
A few days later, the mayor-candidate of the list Love Toulouse backpedaled in that the project was not to completely drive the cars from the Saint-Pierre bridge:
“My idea is to arrange a continuous link going from La Grave to Place Saint-Sernin recently refurbished, a link between the right bank and the left bank (…). But the nature of the arrangement must be specified. It is not a matter not totally prohibit traffic (to cars, editor’s note) but to reduce the space allotted to it in favor of pedestrians and cycles and with an aesthetic quality at a level harmonious with that of Place Saint-Sernin, with cycle / pedestrian separation on the bridge: to be studied, it may be necessary to -be -be a recovery of levels. Nothing is precise at this stage, ”he told The Dispatch January 29, 2020.
Where is the project at?
Since his re-election to the Capitol in June 2020, the project has not been specifically mentioned by the majority of Jean-Luc Moudenc. Then, where is this file ? Asked about this, the Toulouse town hall indicates that at this stage, “there is no new element to communicate on this pedestrianization mentioned by Jean-Luc Moudenc during his campaign, the technical studies not being completed ”.
But the project is not abandoned however. The announcement of the redevelopment of rue Valade, which provides for the creation of a cycle path “to comfort and secure cyclists heading towards Place Saint-Pierre”, but also the creation of a pedestrian plateau, also constituting the first signal of a larger development desired by the mayor (LR) of Toulouse in this sector.
A redevelopment promised by the end of the mandate
As we wrote a few weeks ago, the rue Valade project is indeed a first step in a larger project being considered for the years to come. A project that is working on Jeanne Busquets, the town planner who has been transforming Toulouse city center for ten years.
To pay Toulouse news, Jean-Luc Moudenc detailed this project, October 20, 2021:
“The idea is to go as far as Saint-Sernin by redeveloping, in the same way as rue Valade, rue Albert-Lautman and rue Emile-Cartailhac. And more generally to tend towards pedestrianization on an axis which will go from Saint-Cyprien to Saint-Sernin. But to do this, you have to go in stages ”.
The mayor continued:
“The first step, which will be completed on this mandate (ie in 2026, editor’s note), is the redevelopment of rue Valade, then the extension of this development towards Saint-Sernin. Still in this mandate, we will carry out the redevelopment of the Saint-Pierre bridge “.
A redevelopment that would therefore not until the exclusive pedestrianization of the bridge, as mentioned during the municipal campaign.
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