Toulouse. Five road things to know about the new interchange, planned on the ring road
By David Saint-Sernin
Published on
It is a public consultation that is coming to an end. However, he remains until Friday, September 30, 2022 to give his opinion. on the project of new interchange road which should see the light of day on the Peripheral East of Toulouse. A project, named East Junction, in the boxes for several years.
Here are the 5 things to know about the project:
1. Where will it be located?
Almost six years after the completion of the Borderouge interchange, this new interchange is planned between exit 17 of the Cité de l’espace (Lasbordes interchange) and exit 18 from Montaudran. The new roads, built to allow access to the interchange, will be drawn to the south of the Toulouse-Lasbordes aerodrome on one side and will draw a tangent with the Cité de l’Espace on the other.
What to plan for the project?
In addition to the interchange, which will be built by Vinci Autoroutes, the project includes a 1.2 kilometer long road link, between the ring road and the M16 metropolitan road in Quint-Fonsegrives. This link includes infrastructure for pedestrians and cycles.
The project also plans to create access to the Grande Plaine business park, near the Cité de l’Espace.
“It is a new infrastructure which will make it possible to strengthen the road network in this sector, will improve the safety of the ring road and relieve the two other interchanges located next door”, indicated a few months ago to Toulouse News Gregory Carneiro, vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of roads.
This project, in the pipeline for more than 15 years, therefore aims to “relieve the other two exchangers of the area, but also of “offload” the road to Revel car traffic, improve service to existing and future development areas, strengthen the network of soft connections (pedestrians and cycles), improve safety conditions on the ring road and support the development of the is from Toulouse”, indicates Toulouse Métropole.
The sector has already welcomed new infrastructures such as the Capio Croix-du-Sud clinic, one of the largest in the city. And it is a few hectometres from this new interchange that a new district will also emerge, the future district maleperewho will welcome 15,000 people by 2035.
How much does the project cost?
The project will cost in total 79 million euros, including 57 million at the expense of Toulouse Métropole and 22 million at the expense of Vinci Autoroutes, which will build the interchange.
What’s the calendar ?
After this public consultation, the provisional timetable provides for the holding of the public inquiry in 2023 with a start of work which could take place in 2024 and commissioning which could take place in 2028.
Is the new interchange consensual?
Not really. Opponents issue many reservations on the advisability of the project and on its consequences on the natural environment. On the public consultation websitethe majority of contributors express opposition to the project.
The arguments put forward in a loop: “An anachronistic project in contradiction with the current objectives of reducing greenhouse gases and limiting the artificialization of the soil”, “a project that destroys the quality of life of the inhabitants which will promote the use of the car, as well as an influx of vehicles in the surrounding neighborhoods and a source of noise pollution, visual pollution and air pollution” and “a useless project which will not bring real gains in terms of fluidity of traffic because it caused traffic jams upstream on the existing infrastructures”.
UN collective called “No at the East junction”, on the basis of this argument, launched a petition against the project, which had been signed by 1,951 people on Monday, September 26, 2022.
Conversely, other players in the area, such as merchants in the shopping center of Saint-Orens en grande, are in favor of it.
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