The Toulouse-Castres motorway will open up the south of the Tarn
Posted July 4. 2022 at 11:30
Motorway projects have become so rare that the inauguration of the new A79 on Thursday June 30 is surprising. A first section of 30 km of the 2X2 track will come into operation in the fall and will eventually connect Digoin to Montmarault to facilitate access to this isolated territory of the Saône et Loire.
The same week, another sea serpent got loose this time between Toulouse and Castres in the south of the Tarn. While this motorway project has been authorized for a quarter of a century, the decree approving the concession contract with Atosca was published at the end of April. Environmental authorization is expected in October to start construction in 2023 and open the motorway in the second half of 2025.
Requested by Pierre Fabre
The new 53 kilometer A69 will link Castres to Verfeil (Haute-Garonne) where it will connect to a branch of the A68 Toulouse-Albi. It will reduce travel time by 25 to 35 minutes. If the forecast traffic is modest, at 8,400 light vehicles and 800 heavy goods vehicles per day, “it is a very structuring project which will increase the attractiveness of the Castres Mazamet basin”, argues the prefect of Occitanie, Etienne Guyot. The highway was requested by the pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre in Castres, which employs 2,000 people in the department. “It was a strong challenge to continue to root Pierre Fabre in the Tarn”, underlines the president of the departmental council, Christophe Ramond (PS).
The highway is supposed to stop the economic decline of the south of the Tarn (130,000 inhabitants and 49,000 jobs) which is landlocked, unlike the north. “The construction of the A68 between Toulouse and Albi was an accelerator for the north of the Tarn, on the sees in the Gaillacois, underlines Christophe Ramond. We must rethink the distribution of economic activities in the department. The Albi motorway has supplied the rural towns with thousands of inhabitants who work in Toulouse.
We must rethink the distribution of economic activities in the department
Christophe Ramond President of the departmental council
The A69 will be built and operated by the Atosca consortium, which constitutes the constructor NGE Concessions (25%), the Portuguese motorway manager Ascendi (15%), a specialist in free-flow tolls, and the Quaero Capital and TIIC funds (30 % each).
To win, Atosca reimbursed public subsidies from 220 million euros in the public inquiry to only 23 million, shared equally between the State and the communities. “We have eliminated temporary quarries by optimizing backfill and cuttings, and not looking for materials elsewhere reduces the cost”, explained Martial Gerlinger, CEO of Atosca, after the steering committee meeting on 20 June. The consortium also obtained a long-term concession of 55 years and long-term loans from the banks which are financing 61% of this 450 million euro excluding tax project.
Free-flow tolls
Faced with opposition from environmentalists, the concessionaire and the State are talking about a “highway of the 21ste century with concern for sustainable development”. Space-consuming tolls will be replaced by free flow control with four gantries reading license plates or badges, a first in France. The absence of tolls and the optimization of the route reduced the land area from 380 to 300 hectares. And the price will be reduced by 20% for electric cars.
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