Toulouse: comment on the dead monument to the will move because of the work of the metro
To build the future François-Verdier station of the 3rd metro line, the monument to the Glory of the Combatants of Haute-Garonne will be moved 35 m back in the summer of 2023 then put back in place to the nearest centimeter, in 2027 -2028.
This is a first in France. The monument to the Glory of the Combatants of Haute-Garonne, built between 1923 and 1928 on the plans of the architect Léon Jaussely, will be moved, in the summer of 2023, 35 m behind its current place, to allow the digging of the François-Verdier station of the 3e underground line. Stored for four years at the location of the current rear bypass, it will be moved again to return to its original position, to the nearest centimeter, by 2027. After restoration, it will be used again in 2028.
Labors of Hercules for very specialized companies
True works of Hercules thus await companies specializing in this type of non-standard transport – some in Europe or America – which are currently competing to carry out this delicate operation.
Judge for yourself: “The monument weighs 1,373 tons, it is 15 m high, 17 m long and 12 m wide. It will be raised on jacks”, explains Mickaël Massaad, technical manager of the operation for Tisséo Ingénierie, “we will remove the granite stone base, which will be dismantled, numbered one by one and adapted; the top of the monument and its columns, i.e. an overall weight of around one thousand tons, will be encased en bloc in a metal and wood exoskeleton that will hold it together. Everything will be placed on a wheeled, self-propelled platform, which will move the assembly 35 m backwards, and will turn the assembly on itself at 90°, so that it can be stored between the plane trees without damage to the concrete slab specially poured to support it. Stored on site, still maintained by the exoskeleton, it will again be lifted on cylinders and moved in the other direction to return to its original position, by 2027, this time above the station, the shell of which will be ended. It will take its place on its reconstituted granite base and on a concrete slab cast on the station’s molded walls”.
Like a chapel in Germany or a theater in Switzerland
This unprecedented operation is inspired by various precedents such as the relocation of the Toulouse tram bridge above the Blagnac ring road, after having been mounted separately. Or like the shifting of a chapel or that of a theater in Zürich in Switzerland, moved more than 60 m to make way for the extension of a station.
The cost of the operation, which amounts to a few million euros, has not been revealed “because the calls for tenders are in progress and the competing companies must not know it”, indicated Jean-François Lacroux. , Managing Director of Tisséo Ingénierie, “but it is lower than the envelope provided for in the overall budget of the 3e lines”.
“Preserving the trees on the esplanade forced us to move the future station to the site of the monument,” explains Jean-Michel Lattes, president of Tisséo Ingénierie. A tree salvage that offers the Monument a truly spectacular journey.
Displaced Ceremonies
Consequence of the construction works of the François-Verdier station of the 3e metro line, all the ceremonies that traditionally took place in front of the war memorial on boulevard Carnot will be moved for several years, until 2028, when the metro comes into service. They will take place in front of the monument to the glory of the Resistance, allées Frédéric-Mistral, where, each August 19, the Liberation of Toulouse is designated. This concerns about fifteen ceremonies per year, such as those of May 8 and November 11. The commemoration of May 8 has already been organized on the Mistral alleys. Deputy Mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Baptiste de Scorraille organized the consultation with veterans’ associations on this subject. The July 14 parade will take place on rue du Languedoc and rue Ozenne.