Toulouse. In the city center, a new bypass “circuit” will change travel habits
By David Saint-Sernin
Published on
It’s a new bypass “circuit” that will change the lives of many Toulouse residents in the next few months.
In the extension of the great rue de Metz transformation project which must be delivered by 2025 and which makes the main avenue of Toulouse more semi-pedestrian, the City of Toulouse is preparing a loop which will make it possible to shorten the city center by bike, in much better conditions than at present. And give more space to pedestrians.
a loop
This loop will go from Esquirol to Place de la République, Saint-Cyprien district, then go up Rue Saint-Pierre, cross the bridge, then Place Saint-Pierre before going up Rue Valade to arrive, in the longer term, at Saint Sernin.
Bring consistency
This project therefore provides for the redevelopment of the end of the rue de Metz, but also of the Neuf and Saint-Pierre bridges, and finally of the rue de la République and the rue du pont Saint-Pierre.
Highly anticipated projects on highways very produced and where there were many requests, especially from cyclists.
“The idea was to go beyond the development of the first half of the rue de Metz, to do something coherent on the second part of Esquirol at the Pont Neuf without however considering a development so heavy. We then initiated a reflection on the development to be put in place to facilitate the passage between the left bank and the right bank. It is on the basis of this consultation that we ended up with what constituted a new cycle circuit”, supports Julie Escudier, mayor of Toulouse Center.
From the rue d’Alsace to the Pont Neuf
As announced by the town hall, the bulk of the development of rue de Metz will stop at the intersection with rue d’Alsace-Lorraine. However, the town hall will therefore extend the redevelopment of the street towards the Pont Neuf by proposing a new sharing of public space between vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.
In the Rue de Metz-Pont Neuf direction, motorized vehicles share a traffic lane with buses, whereas the two uses were previously separate. In the opposite direction, the bus channel remains as is.
This will free up space to create a bi-directional cycle path.
On the new bridge
On the Pont Neuf, cyclists who currently separate from the wide sidewalk with pedestrians will be brought back to the roadway. A two-way cycle path will be set up on the bridge, which will change from three lanes to two, like rue de Metz. In the Esquirol-Saint-Cyprien direction, the bus shares a lane with the cars while they are currently moving on two lanes.
From Pont Neuf to Saint-Cyprien
The two-way cycle path of the Pont Neuf will be extended, rue de la République, by removing a row of parking spaces.
“We are going to remove parking to green the street. This is a development that will be carried out during the summer of 2023 with delivery at the end of 2023. The two-way cycle path will, like rue de Metz, be physically separated from the lane dedicated to vehicles. This will also make it possible to enlarge the sidewalks,” explains Julie Escudier.
From Saint-Cyprien to Saint-Pierre
Big changes are also coming on the side of rue Saint-Pierre which will be one-way, such as the bridge which will be semi-pedestrianised. Motorists could only drive in the Saint-Cyprien-Saint-Pierre direction.
The first works have already started on this street in November 2028.
Like rue de la République, the parking lot will be removed and the sidewalks will be widened. Trees and shrubs will be planted as evidenced by the first developments made. Finally, a two-way cycle path will be set up with a definitive one-way layout.
The cycle path will recover one of the traffic lanes from the rue du pont Saint-Pierre, then from the pont Saint-Pierre as shown in the computer-generated image below.
On the Saint-Pierre bridge
Until the summer, motorists could still reach St. Peter’s Square on the remaining lane.
The bridge should then be closed to traffic in July 2023 as it was in 2022. A closure which should then be final and which will be to consider more simplified the redevelopment of the bridge which will then be exclusively reserved for pedestrians, cyclists and idleness.
From Saint-Pierre to Saint-Sernin
Continuing on from Place Saint-Pierre, the town hall of Toulouse is going to redevelop rue Valade, a street well known to students from Toulouse 1 Capitole University since it is the most direct route to access the bars in the square. Saint Pierre.
The creation of a cycle path “to comfort and secure cyclists going to Place Saint-Pierre”, according to the town hall.
This would replace the current contraflow authorized on the roadway. To do this, a row of parking lots would be removed to make the cycle path.
A planted bed will be created along the cycle path, including the planting of 6 trees.
This rue Valade project is a first step in a larger project under consideration for the coming years.
Towards Saint-Sernin in the future
The mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc, explained it to Toulouse news few months ago :
“The idea is to go as far as Saint-Sernin by redeveloping, in the same way as Rue Valade, Rue Albert-Lautman and Rue Emile-Cartailhac. And more broadly to move towards pedestrianization on an axis that will go from Saint-Cyprien to Saint-Sernin. But to do this, you have to go step by step. The first stage, which will be completed on this mandate (i.e. in 2026, editor’s note), is the redevelopment of rue Valade, then the extension of this development towards Saint-Sernin. Also in this mandate, we will carry out the redevelopment of the Saint-Pierre bridge”.
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