Garonne – Castres-Toulouse motorway (A69): “a project in the opposite direction” for FNE Midi-Pyrénées
Last step before the issuance of the environmental authorization and then the start of the works, a public inquiry procedure is organized from November 28, 2022 to January 11, 2023. A commission of inquiry made up of 7 commissioners of inquiry ensures discussions with the public before to submit its reasoned conclusions within 30 days of the closure of the investigation. The FNE Midi-Pyrénées and many local associations will take part in this public inquiry. But this consultation must allow as many citizens as possible to express their opinion on this motorway project.
A public inquiry into two environmental authorization application files
The motorway link project between Toulouse and Castres, which extends over 62 km, is divided into two operations:
• the widening operation to 2 X 2 lanes A 680 (ASF concession company) between Castelmaurou and Verfeil declared of public utility by prefectural decree of 22 December 2017;
• the operation to create a 2 x 2 lane A 69 link (ATOSCA concession company) between Verfeil and Castres declared of public utility by decree no. 2018-638 of July 19, 2018.
This public inquiry will therefore focus on the files presented by these two companies (including in particular an environmental assessment), but also the opinions expressed during the investigation by the bodies consulted: the environmental authority (AE), the local authorities, the National Council protection of nature (CNPN), etc.
This file will be available for consultation on the websites of the prefectures concerned in the town halls concerned but also on paper during the periods of permanence. All terms of participation are detailed in the public notice.
A motorway project particularly criticized by the independent organizations consulted
For a long time, the FNE Midi-Pyrénées has been opposed to this project. “It will lead to the consumption of 400 hectares of natural and agricultural spaces, will destroy various environments and wetlands as well as dozens of protected species that are subservient to it, to save time on the route, appears between 12 and 15 minutes… But recently, it was indeed the expert and independent organizations consulted on the file that expressed significant criticism of the quality of the proposed environmental assessment”.
First of all, the environmental authority responsible for issuing an opinion on the quality of the environmental assessments a statement of the file’s many shortcomings: “The impact study still contains many shortcomings with regard to health impacts, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis of the variants only considers the road mode without sufficient exploration of reasonable alternatives that are less carbon-intensive and less space-consuming. In general, this road project, initiated several decades ago, appears anachronistic in view of the current challenges and ambitions of sobriety, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, stopping the erosion of biodiversity and the artificialization of the territory and the evolution of mobility practices and their links with regional planning”
For their part, CNPN biodiversity experts Indicate in their recommended opinion: “This file is in contradiction with the national commitments in terms of the fight against climate change, the objective of zero net artificialisation and zero net loss of biodiversity, as well as in terms of the power to ‘purchase. The absence of satisfactory alternative solutions open to debate, and the appeal’s arguments are unfounded. The coexistence of the current RN126 and a new motorway increases the disruption of ecological continuity, the destruction of habitats and the artificialization of the territory. Widening the existing infrastructure (RN126) would probably be a more acceptable and reasonable minimal impact solution.”
In conclusion, Cécile ARGENTIN, President of the FNE Midi-Pyrénées adds that: “Reading this project is awe-inspiring; have some people still not understood that times have changed? That motorways are no longer an end in themselves, a fortiori to dump hordes of vehicles towards the ZFE of Toulouse (low emission zone) which does everything to no longer have any within its perimeter… 62 km of 2×2 lanes n’ is not the future of a territory, it is on the contrary to divide it irremediably, to crumble its agricultural lands, to destroy its assets, its ecological continuities and its biological richness. Many citizens would have made other choices, that of a more coherent local development, of public transport, with more sobriety in the installations… No, a motorway is not a structuring project, it is a project of another time! »
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