Toulouse: here is the final project for the redevelopment of rue de Metz
The final redevelopment project for rue de Metz, the work of which will take place between 2022 and 2024, was presented to residents during a public meeting on Tuesday, December 7. Between Alsace-Lorraine and François-Verdier, only residents, delivery people and emergency vehicles drive by car.
This project will change the face of one of the busiest streets in downtown Toulouse. The town hall presented, Tuesday, the final project of the rue de Metz, in its portion which goes from the rue d’Alsace-Lorraine and François-Verdier. In line with the streets made pedestrianized in the hypercentre, Pargaminières, Lois, Bayard, then the outskirts of Saint-Sernin and Victor-Hugo, the rue de Metz will undergo its 21st century transformation, where cars will only be tolerated. Network work will begin in 2022, and surface work will take place in 2023 and 2024, for delivery at the end of 2024.
Bus lanes are disappearing, in favor of wider sidewalks and cycle paths
Today continue to follow this road for cars and two lanes of buses, the rue de Metz will only have one lane by 2024. artery. Access points will be set up, as is the case in many downtown streets. To return the street to pedestrians, the end of the passage of buses and limited access to cars have been given priority. The sidewalks thus widened.
Unlike the rue d’Alsace-Lorraine, where pedestrians and cyclists mix too anarchically to the taste of the town hall, it is noted that a “color code” will be adopted for the coating of the future rue de Metz. A two-way cycle path will be created, and the same porphyry paving stones as around Saint-Sernin will completely change the appearance of the street.
Transit traffic is suppressed between Alsace-Lorraine and François-Verdier
A clearer demarcation between future cycle lanes and other street uses has been planned, in particular with nails. It will be materialized by a change of color on the ground and the creation of a space of separation with the lane reserved for vehicles and the shuttle.
The town hall’s project aims to suppress car transit traffic, to recreate a greener, peaceful space, and to end up with a “peaceful” street, in particular by making cyclists safer, explained the district mayor, Julie Escudier during of the public meeting. The fight against heat islands will be asserted, with the planting of dozens of trees. The consultation that took place in recent months made it possible to decide, and to choose the planting of trees on one side only, downtown.
As for associations, 60 million Pedestrians 31 “deeply regret the removal of real sidewalks”. The association fears that pedestrians and disabled people are no longer “protected from the intrusion of cyclists and scooters”.