These new traffic signs are popping up in the Toulouse agglomeration: here’s what they mean
By David Saint-Sernin
Published on
Of new traffic signs appear in the Toulouse conurbation and even if you passed the highway code even a few months ago, you risk being lost.
Unmarked Central Lane Roadway
Two vehicles, two cyclists and arrows… If you come across these new signs, it means that you are traveling on a Unmarked Central Lane Roadway.
What is an unmarked central lane roadway? It is a route shared between the different users: motor vehicles and bicycles. It concerns narrow roads without marking in the middle.
How it works?
“These carriageways with an unmarked central lane are divided into three lanes: two lanes for bicycles on the sides and a two-way central lane used by motorized vehicles. When a vehicle arrives in the other direction, without the presence of a cyclist on the side lanes, the two cars slow down, move slightly off the shoulder to pass each other before repositioning themselves on the central lane. In the presence of a cyclist, the car waits behind the bike before resuming its place on the central lane,” explains Toulouse Métropole.
In downtown Toulouse since 2021
In these streets, cyclists therefore have priority over motorists, which should encourage the circulation of cyclists.
In Toulouse, this development, also called chaucidou (low-traffic roadway, editor’s note), has been deployed on an experimental basis in the heart of the city since March 2021 on the Maurice-Sarraut alley.
This type of development was already present in the south-west of the Toulouse conurbation, in less urbanized areas, since 2016.
In Bruguières, the layout had been tested since the fall of 2020, recalls the town on its Facebook page.
In several municipalities
Since 2021, several municipalities in the agglomeration have created their own chaucidou such as Blagnac or Pibrac.
In Toulouse “intra-muros”, the experimentation of the Maurice-Sarraut driveway has obviously been positive since the City continues to develop new carriageways with an unmarked central lane, such as rue du Férétra recently.
Or on the Borderouge side, chemin Raynal.
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