How to make car traffic more fluid in Monaco? The National Council urges the government to act
Circulation is indeed the subject that comes up at almost all public Budget meetings at the National Council. And again on Monday evening, the elected members of the Assembly spent more than two hours on a problem which, according to them, is so major that several of them suggested the idea of a National Mobility Plan on the model of this which was made in 2019 for housing.
And the government adviser-Minister for Equipment, the Environment and Urban Planning, Céline Caron-Dagioni, to be solicited and sometimes pushed into a corner.
Minister of State Pierre Dartout also tried to explain to national advisers who were exasperated at not seeing mediocre solutions.
41 construction sites in progress over 2 km²
The President of the National Council Brigitte Boccone-Pagès is clear: “Residents expect concrete and pragmatic answers.”
Nathalie Amoratti-Blanc says she is tired of waiting without seeing projects come to fruition. “We are still waiting for the realization of the following projects, so that they become a reality and that they cease to be the Arlesian of our exchanges. I want to talk about Public Transport in Clean Site (TCSP), the gondola, the metro project, the rapid link with the Brasca site, the maritime shuttle. So are we going? And if so, when?”
Céline Caron-Dagioni lets go: “Forty-one construction sites on a territory as small as ours is huge. I don’t have a magic wand.”
Discussions are underway. But no solutions found for traffic jams.
So Jean-Louis Grinda launches: “I’ve been talking about the right to tranquility for years. We’ve been talking about it for ten years and things haven’t been done. The government doesn’t want to hear us. We have no hope of improvement. Nothing. Do not act. Surrender for the campaign.”
“Needs You Defend”
And when the tone rises, Pierre Dartout speaks. “We are facing contradictory issues. We have the highest urban density in the world. No one is in favor of us reducing construction sites. We cannot want everything and its opposite. These forty-one construction sites correspond to needs that you defend most of the time.”
Finally not completely notes Franck Lobono, who recalls that the national councilors are favorable to constructions to house Monegasques, either “currently four sites out of forty-one.”
And Vice-President Balthazar to add: “The majority of construction sites are private. It became unbearable. We spend entire evenings talking about mobility.”
But there is no simple answer to matters that Minister of State Pierre Dartout deems “eminently complex”. “It’s not only Monaco who is the decision maker; but also France.”
And to list the technical constraints, the budgetary aspect, the multiple ideas of transport, deterrent parking, studies and surveys of employees… “You must not be mistaken in the choice of the vector.”
Dean Daniel Boeri gets annoyed: “We assume that it is France that is pissing us off.”
Brigitte Boccone-Pagès in reply: “This is my sixth Minister of State. Let’s stop the investigations. Let’s start something in Monaco.”
East and West, the worst is yet to come
Landlocked in French territory, Monaco does not have free rein to decide and act freely on questions of mobility of employees, most of whom reside in France.
Also, Corinne Bertani calls for more coordination between neighboring municipalities and the Principality. “How can we imagine that at the same time work requiring the road, either in one direction or at narrowings, occurs at the same time to the west in the town of Cap-d’Ail avenue du 3-Septembre – before the roundabout allowing access to Fontvieille -; and, on the other side, wishing access from the east between Saint-Roman and the place called 4 Chemins. ..) that no one speaks between the Departmental Council, the municipalities concerned and the government services.
Ideas were blown. Jacques Rit proposed night work, for example for the very long eighteen months of works at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin which, according to him, will generate “phenomenal traffic jams”.
Céline Caron-Dagioni has promised to call Mayor Patrick Cesari and share with local elected officials to try to reduce the nuisance. “On the Cap-d’Ail side, coordination has taken place. This entry will be complicated for a long time, first for Cap-d’Ail with the road and network works. Then, we must not keep in mind that there is another project that will be carried out by Monaco, and not the least: the Charles-III block.” Work will start in early 2023 and the roads will be rerouted for a year as the work progresses.
It promises many patience exercises for commuters…