Traffic: for or against the Toulouse bypass?
A petition collected 3,418 signatures against the urban boulevards planned to open up western Toulouse. Should we stop making roads in the name of nature?
Difficult to say to motorists stuck at rush hour, every morning and every evening, in the many traffic jams in the southwest of Toulouse, that we should no longer build a kilometer of road intended to make traffic more fluid in this oversaturated sector. And this in the name of the defense of nature and the environment.
However, this is the message that the 3,418 signatories of the petition received by “Axe vert de la Ramée” have failed to send them against the road bypass project in the South-West of Toulouse chosen by Toulouse Métropole, which they want to see abandoned. .
The group of 12 local associations (see opposite page) believes that this road project “distorts the philosophy of setting up a Low Emission Zone (ZFE); goes against the objectives of the Paris agreement on carbon neutrality in 2050; would lead to the destruction of agricultural areas, wetlands and wooded areas bordering parks (in opposition) with the national objective of zero net artificialisation (ZAN) of soils; would increase nuisances for local residents and would degrade the living environment; would be very justified for a questionable utility”.
The road project proposed by Toulouse Métropole is part of the developments programmed as part of the Parm (metropolitan road development project) voted by the metropolis in 2019. Grégoire Carneiro, in charge of this project at nearly two billion euros which would extend over several mandates, did not respond to our requests. The part concerning the south-west, that is to say the projects of urban boulevards West (BUO) and of the Saint-Martory canal (BUCSM) are revealed at 276 million euros.
The collective, opposed to any new road project, which “encourages the use of the car rather than making traffic more fluid”, proposes “to allocate this sum to the development of secure cycle paths and public transport, in particular by train “.
Not sure that the thousands of motorists using the roads in the area to go to work, do their shopping or bring their children to school, are ready to drop their car for the bike or the trains at Portet or Colomiers station.
The south-west Toulouse road bypass project offers a network of 25 km of new roads allowing more fluid exchanges between the A62, to the north of Toulouse, and the A64, to the south, and also with the Auch-Colomiers bypass. The BUO must connect the Auch-Toulouse ring road to the A64 via La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles, Plaisance-du-Touch, Cugnaux and Portet-sur-Garonne. The BUCSM would connect the Arc-En-Ciel ring road to the A64 by following the existing bus route, along the Parc de la Ramée then via Cugnaux and Portet. Variants are adapted to Seysses.
Save the planet or better circular, should the choice be so restrictive and binary?
A local collective integrated into an anti-road movement
The collective “Axe vert de la Ramée for transport respectful of nature and citizens in the South-West of Toulouse” is at the initiative of the request asking for the abandonment of the road bypass project in the South-West of Toulouse retained by Toulouse Metropolis. It includes 12 local associations: 2 Pieds 2 Roues, Non à Val Tolosa (from Plaisance), GNSA Pays Toulouse, Amis de la Terre Midi-Pyrénées, Alternatiba, Écolomobile (from Cugnaux), Cugnaux in transition, Greenpeace Toulouse, Plaisance pour le climate, ANV-COP21, Toulouse in transition and France Nature Environnement Midi-Pyrénées.
“We refused to redirect the budget for this project (276 million euros according to the collective) in favor of the development of soft modes and public transport, the preservation and rehabilitation of the green axis of La Ramée and wooded and humid areas around” indicates the collective in the text accompanying its petition on change.org
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The petition was brought by the collective in 2021 following a communication of the bypass project by Toulouse Métropole.
“We have to stop making new roads that encourage more people to use the car, comments Sébastien Aubry, member of the collective, “France is the country in Europe where there are the most kilometers of roads per inhabitant. We must develop local trains and cycling with real secure cycle paths and an express cycle network.
www.change.org/p/toulouse-m%C3%A9tropole-non-%C3%A0-la-destruction-d-espaces-naturels-et-%C3%A0-la-construction-de-nouvelles-routes
Those elected mainly for the project
The mayors of Tournefeuille, Villeneuve-Tolosane, Plaisance-du-Touch or Toulouse have been in favor of the development of these urban boulevards for years and which should facilitate exchanges between the A62 (north), route d’Auch and A64 (southern motorway) . The municipal council of Cugnaux would be divided on this file, according to the collective “Axe vert de la Ramée”. The departmental road council supports the projects of Toulouse Métropole in this sector, which will come as an extension of the bridge over the Garonne expected north of Toulouse. Questioned by the collective during the recent municipal elections, the candidates of the only environmentalist movements, EELV, and rebellious, LFI, declared themselves against the South-West road bypass project, the socialist candidates declared themselves in favor of this project, on behalf of better traffic flow.