Launch of the public inquiry dedicated to the Toulouse-Castres motorway
It’s a investigation highly anticipated. It serves as the final stage of the Castres-Toulouse motorway project, before the issuance of the environmental permit. However, this fast track project is far from unanimous.
On September 12, for example, the National Council for the Protection of Nature (CNPN) issued a published opinion about the Castres-Toulouse motorway. “This file is in contradiction with national commitments in the fight against climate change, the objective of net ‘zero artificialisation’ and zero net loss of biodiversity, as well as in terms of purchasing power”, justify the CNPN in the report of the verdict.
At the same time, collectives were created to demonstrate their opposition. For example, from October 21 to 24, members of the “La Voie est libre” and “Forrest” collective organized a 53-kilometre walk on the route of the future A69 motorway, from Verfeil to Castres. A way to highlight the consequences, particularly ecological, of this project, to the general public.
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“Collective Act”
Citizens are called upon to give their opinion on the project. Note that this future motorway link would connect Toulouse and Castres, the axis would then extend over 62 km. The project consists of two operations: the first phase of widening to 2×2 A680 lanes, carried out by the concession company ASF, between Castelmaurou and Verfeil; the second operation would relate to the 2 x 2 lane A 69 link, managed by the concession company ATOSCA, between Verfeil and Castres.
This public inquiry will therefore return to the files presented by these two companies. Among them, an environmental assessment, but also the opinions expressed during the investigation by the organizations consulted; namely the Environmental Authority (AE), local authorities or the National Council for the Protection of Nature (CNPN). “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”, recalls France Nature Environnement Midi-Pyrénées.
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The environmental impact pointed out
The expert and independent organizations consulted on the dossier expressed significant criticism of the quality of the proposed environmental assessment. Initially, the Environmental Authority responsible for issuing an opinion on the quality of environmental assessments noted problems in the file:
The impact study still has many gaps with regard to health impacts, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. […] 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 development.
Secondly, and as written above, the CNPN’s biodiversity experts indicated in their opinion: “The coexistence of the current RN126 and a new highway increasing the disruption of ecological continuity, the destruction of habitats and the artificialization of the territory.The CNPN promises rather an “enlargement of the existing infrastructure (RN126)” which it considers “more acceptable and reasonable”.
Finally, Cécile Argentin, president of FNE Midi-Pyrenees adds: When reading this project, it is astonishment that is essential; have some still not understood that times have changed?” she wonders. She adds: “62 km of 2×2 lanes 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. […] No, a motorway is not a structuring project, it’s a project from another time!”
To contribute to the public inquiry, click here.
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