Toulouse. Here is the final project for the rue de Metz: how it will upset the city center
Through David Saint Sernin
Published on
This is the project that will change the face of downtown Toulouse by 2025. The redevelopment of rue de Metz, one of the most important streets in Toulouse in terms of road traffic, is now known in its final version.
Presented to the inhabitants
It was presented to residents on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 and network work should begin in 2022 according to the announced schedule.
In addition to the redevelopment of the largest crossing street in downtown Toulouse, the project presented this Tuesday will have consequences for the public transport network and on the traffic plan of the city center of the Pink City.
Downtown 2030
It was designed as part of a more global reflection of what Toulouse city center should be by 2030-2035.
Here is this project in detail and also the way in which it will upset the habits of the inhabitants of the city center and more generally of the inhabitants of the agglomeration, those used to using the rue de Metz with their own.
In video, the project as it was presented in May 2021
Details of the redevelopment of rue de Metz
The starting point, and central point of this transformation of the city center, is obviously the redevelopment project of part of the rue de Metz, from boulevard Carnot to rue d’Alsace-Lorraine.
The objective was set a few months ago:
“It’s calming traffic to improve the quality of life. The aim is to prevent transit traffic, to seek a greener, more peaceful space, and to end up with a peaceful street, in particular by making cyclists safer with the creation of a cycle path. It is also a question of planting trees to fight against heat islands and, finally, to erase the urban rupture that the rue de Metz represents today in order to revitalize the businesses while highlighting the heritage ”, details Julie Escudier, the mayor of the Toulouse-Center sector.
What the project foresees
In fact, the development of rue de Metz provides for:
- Of close access to rue de Metz to through traffic. Two terminals will be installed at the entrance and exit of the street to reserve access to the street for residents and delivery people.
- Of limiting access for Tisséo buses to a single electric shuttle. The other lines will be diverted to other axes.
- Widen the sidewalks.
- Of create a two-way cycle path, secure car separated from the lane reserved for car and shuttle traffic.
- Of replace the bitumen with a coating with paving stones just like what was done at Place Saint-Sernin.
- Of 36 tree planter : 24 all along the rue de Metz, from the Monument aux Morts to the Augustins museum and 11 in front of the Augustins museum in addition to those already present.
- Of create a new square in front of the Augustins museum, managed by Fransisco Aires Mateus, which also signs the creation of a new reception pavilion for the museum.
What the consultation changed in the initial project
Regarding the planting of trees, the consultation initiated with the inhabitants, following the presentation, in May, of the first version of the project, made it possible to choose the scenario proposing the planting of a line of trees on the same side. from the street. The second scenario alternated the plantings on either side of the street.
“In addition to the place where the trees are going to be installed, consultation with local residents and more generally with the inhabitants of the agglomeration who use the street has made it possible to improve the layout planned for cyclists, assures Julie Escudier. Thus, a clearer demarcation between the future cycle path and the other uses of the street has been planned. 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. We have also worked a lot on the greening under the trees and crossing the rue de Metz. In agreement with local residents and buildings in France, we have chosen to create small road platforms at the crossroads with rue des Arts and rue Boulbonne ”.
Redeveloped rue Croix-Baragnon
The rue de Metz redevelopment project is the focal point of a more global project that will shake up habits in the city center.
Around this great artery, several streets will, in fact, be the subject of special attention. First of all the rue Croix Baragnon, a very busy street and where the through traffic has been triggered by major inconveniences for many years.
Decrease through traffic
“The objective is to ensure that this street is appeased. From 260 vehicles that circulate there every hour on average, we want to increase to 50 vehicles per hour ”, indicates Julie Escudier.
As for rue de Metz, bollards restricting access to the street must be installed.
Regarding the redevelopment of the street, nothing has been acted on at the moment but it is indeed a requalification in line with the rue de Metz which is imagined for Croix-Baragnon. Technical studies have started in recent months. A first consultation meeting with local residents will take place on December 13 on this subject.
The redevelopment of rue Boulbonne will also be on the menu for this evening of December 13.
The modified traffic plan
Rue de Metz, rue Croix-Baragnon, rue Boulbonne: the redevelopment of the three streets will be carried out as part of a more general reflection on the traffic plan in the city center.
“We want to do this as part of a reflection by sector. The idea is not to appease one place to initiate the mess elsewhere. It’s a real game of interweaving which should also make it possible to appease the rue Saint-Antoine du T ”, announces Julie Escudier.
Clearly, it is an extension of the area under access control, which we know in the hypercentre which is in the pipes and on which the services of Toulouse Métropole and Tisséo are working.
No extension to the Pont Neuf … for the moment
An extension which could also have concerned the rue de Metz between the intersection of the rue d’Alsace-Lorraine and the Pont Neuf. For months, several associations have been asking for the pedestrianization of the rue de Metz as a whole but also of the Pont Neuf, before an extension to Saint-Cyprien.
The town hall did not choose this option, in particular for budgetary reasons. Julie Escudier explains:
“The redevelopment of rue de Metz costs 12 million euros and we did not have the budget to extend a similar development to Saint-Cyprien while continuing our policy of requalifying the heart of the neighborhood. There is also the problem of underground parking and the arrival of buses in Esquirol. We therefore need an overall reflection and the fact that the development planned for the rue de Metz stops at the intersection of the rue d’Alsace-Lorraine does not mean that we do not think beyond. This reflection has even been launched, in particular as regards the way in which we can extend the cycle path from the future rue de Metz to the Pont Neuf and Saint-Cyprien. The idea is that the cycle path should be coherent on the rue de Metz-Saint-Cyprien axis and that it allows, as part of a global reflection on traffic, to lay the groundwork for a future development ”.
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