Toulouse. Line B connection of the metro: the hot spots of the construction site that will start
By David Saint-Sernin
Published on
It would be commissioned in September 2027 if the timetable announced by Tisséo is kept. The Line B connectionproject which aims to extend line B of the metro by 2.7 km, from Ramonville to Labège, with the creation of two stations, that of the Technological Park of the Canal and that of the National Polytechnic Institute (INP) of Toulouse, will enter its first phase of work.
Starting mid-April
The preparatory work begins in mid-April at the Technological Park of the Canal at the level of the avenue de l’Europe.
More than 16 years after having seen a first project for the extension of line B approved and after many reports, the excavators will be put into action with the preparatory work which will begin in April.
Then, the project would last four years. Site hotspots.
A deforested wood, places removed on the park and ride
Bois de Pouciquot is located near the current terminus of line B. This is where the tunnel boring machine will start digging to build the 500 meters underground needed to pass under the Canal du Midi and under Avenue Latécoère.
The wood will be deforested on 1 hectare. A site base will be set up there for five years. Lost trees will be replanted elsewhere along the route. “Insufficient” judged the defenders of the environment who fear for the future of the protected species present on the site.
“We couldn’t do otherwise. This deforestation will begin in the fall of 2022”, explained Tisséo on Tuesday February 8, 2022 during a meeting to present the site to local residents.
A graceful appeal
Associations France Nature Environment and Vera Cruz have, on February 14, filed a non-contentious appeal with the prefect of Haute-Garonne. “This appeal requests the repeal of the decree signed by this same prefect on December 16, 2021, authorizing the destruction of protected species and their rest and habitat area as part of the extension of metro line B of the Toulouse conurbation. Our appeal is therefore aimed solely at preventing any clearing of the Pouciquot wood in order to set up the living quarters of the site for this connection to line B of the metro. This in compliance with the order of priority of the “ERC” sequence (Avoid, Reduce, Compensate), all too often overlooked, as is the case here”, indicates the two associations.
This work will also require the removal from 50 to 100 parking spaces at the terminus park and ride level. That is 10% of the parking capacity.
Not an easy task in an already saturated parking lot.
The temporary Canal du Midi
“We are going to create a channel within the channel”, announced Tisséo during the public meeting on February 9. This “canal within a canal” will be built where the two-tube metro tunnel will pass under the work of Pierre-Paul Riquet.
At this location, a temporary channel will be created and will run to circular barges alternately. The work will take place in November, December and January 2023 and 2024, when the canal is closed to barge traffic.
An avenue moved to build the viaduct
The Line B Connection will be largely aerial. Over more than two kilometres, the trains will indeed travel on a viaduct.
To achieve this, the site will require fairly heavy operations. “We will have to move the Avenue de l’Europe a few meters to build the piers, then lay the deck. A building, located on the route, will have to be demolished,” explains Tisséo.
“During this phase of work, one of the buildings located at 1 avenue de l’Europe will be deconstructed at the place where the metro will pass from the underground to the viaduct”, adds the joint transport union.
Moving the aisle will require changes to the traffic plan.
The viaduct in the middle of a lake
After crossing the Hers River, the viaduct will pass through the middle of a lake. The solution “least impacting on biodiversity” was considered by the commission of inquiry in 2018:
“The route at Lake Innopole, which consists of partly following the shores of the lake rather than crossing it in the middle, has a number of drawbacks, on the one hand increased nuisances for limited constructions on the edge of the lake, and on the other hand greater environmental impacts by destroying the natural environment, which is richer on the edge of the lake than in its centre. »
The Carrefour-Labège car park impacted
The INP station, the terminus of the CLB which will be shared with a station of the 3and metro line, will be installed in the Carrefour Labège car park. The viaduct of the 3and line will then run through the middle of the Carrefour car park to reach the Labège-Innopole station.
Several dozen parking spaces will be removed.
Tisséo details:
“Among the plots impacted by the project, there are several plots for parking use depending on the Labège 2 shopping center within the company Carrefour Hypermarchés operates a hypermarket under the Carrefour brand. Thus, during the work period, estimated at 5 years, part of this car park will be occupied/neutralized by TISSEO and therefore unusable by customers of the Labège 2 shopping center and the Carrefour Hypermarket. The completion of the works will also lead to the modification of the conditions of access to the shopping centre. This change in the direction of traffic will cause some inconvenience to customers and users of the shopping center and the Carrefour Hypermarket”.
Carrefour compensated up to 3.2 million euros
Tisséo and Carrefour have decided to anticipate and settle amicably the compensation for the commercial damage that Carrefour Hypermarkets will suffer as a result of the work on the 3rd metro line and the Line B connection.
On February 16, “in compensation for the damage suffered as a result of the works”, Tisséo undertook to pay the sum of 3.2 million euros.
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