Extension of the tramway in Caen: he wants to extend it to a forgotten district
By Christophe Jaquet
Published on
Since September 30, 2022, the projecttram extension a Caen (Calvados) has moved on to a new phase. That of public consultation, which must be completed at the end of November and determine which of the 3 proposed routes will be retained by Caen la mer. Elected in oppositionboth to the City and to the urban community, Xavier Le Coutour don’t miss the opportunity to participate in the debate.
The future tramway would avoid a district of 10,000 inhabitants
After his multiple appeals against the project for a gourmet market on the Place de la République, he seems to be making the future tramway his new hobbyhorse. He claims to “clearly support” the extension of the tramway to the west and north of Caen, with the creation of two lines, depending on the Presqu’île on one side in the Beaulieu district, on the other in Saint-Contest . But the very architecture of the project questions it.
Last week he was “concern of the explosion without comments of the cost of the project”. Vice-president of Caen la mer in charge of mobility, Nicolas Joyau answered him in Freedom Caen.
Xavier Le Coutour kisses on another subject. The leader of the Citizens group in Caen is now targeting the route of the tram line which must stop on the edge of Caen and Saint-Contest, on the boulevard du Maréchal Juin, at the Landing roundabout. He laments it, the tram would thus avoid “one of the most populated areas of the city”namely Folie-Couvrechef and its 10,000 inhabitants.
The tram at the Folie-Couvrechef? The mayor of Caen ruled out this possibility for two reasons. Which ones?
The mayor and president of Caen la mer Joël Bruneau has already retorted to him, with our colleagues from West France, that “the choice is both strategic and financial”. As it expands, this new line [de tramway] would compete with line 2 [de bus] which works very well. Next, we need to control costs. I remind you that one kilometer of tram costs around 25 M €”.
Go to the Folie-Couvrechef rather than the Zénith
Xavier Le Coutour replies on both points. According to him, “line 2 is little used” and “marked by frequent delays at certain times”. Above all, “it does not compare with what would be the service of the district by tram”, in particular for “the regularity, the comfort, the absence of correspondence”, etc.
On the issue of cost, Xavier Le Coutour wants to “oppose a political choice” for another use of public money”. He wants to reallocate the 50 M € that Caen la mer intends “to spend on a loop passing by the boulevard Guillou to serve the Zénith and the Palais des sports”, via route A of the future tramway. He offered to “transfer these resources to the extension of the line beyond its planned terminus in order to serve the heart of the Folie-Couvrechef district and its facilities”.
A public meeting this Saturday
As he recalls, this district “welcomes 2,000 high school and college students every day, 5,000 tertiary jobs, and thousands of patients at the Saint-Martin clinic, not to mention visitors to the Memorial”. In addition, according to him, La Folie-Couvrechef “needs to be brought closer to the city from which it is symbolically separated by the ring road”.
His arguments, Xavier Le Coutour counts the defenders by November 30 during the consultation. And also during a public meeting he gives this Saturday, October 22. His latest contribution to the debate? Not sure.
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