Revegetation and securing of cycle paths in Matabiau and Saint-Aubin
As part of the participatory budgets “My Ideas for my neighborhood”, 83 projects have been approved by Toulouse residents and should see the light of day throughout the city. In the Matabiau and Saint-Aubin districts, for example, local residents voted for the greening of their living space and the safety of the cycle path on Boulevard Matabiau.
1,600 ideas were submitted by Toulouse residents as part of the operationMy ideas for my neighborhood“. Indeed, the City of Toulouse has launched, in a participatory budget approach, a vast call for projects so that local residents can suggest improvements to be made in their living space. Once the qualified and financial technique had been established, the City identified 200 ideas that were presented to the citizens’ vote on the Internet last October. In total, 83 projects were selected and the Town Hall assures us, those with the most votes per neighborhood will be made by the community within the limit of budget of 8 million euros “.
In the Chalets / Bayard / Belfort / Saint-Aubin / Dupuy sector, located in downtown Toulouse, three projects promoting eco-mobility and nature in the city have been selected and will therefore be financed by the Town Hall, up to 430,000 euros. The latter stating that for technical reasons it had to adapt certain proposals.
Revegetation of rue Matabiau
Thereby, residents of rue Matabiau put to the vote the idea of greening this artery, from place Roquelaine to place Jeanne d’Arc, “one of the great gateways to the Toulouse hypercentre” according to them. Concretely, they propose the planting of 10 to 20 trees or shrubs and flowerbeds in giant planters. These encroach on the parking spaces, along the street, so as not to reduce the space dedicated to pedestrians.
Similarly, to encourage the flowering of balconies in a homogeneous way, the inhabitants of rue Matabiau submitted to the Town Hall the idea of offering residents an offer to purchase, at a reduced price, hanging planters and show them a panel of plants to sow.
“The objective is toprovide shade in a wide, busy street, in the same way as it was done in the nearby rue de la Concorde. The revegetation of this urban space improves air quality, reduces heat islands and improves the quality of life of the inhabitants of the district”, explain the promoters of the project, revealed at 200,000 euros.
For its part, the Town Hall specifies that a project of revegetation of Place Roquelaine is already under study : “The architect of the buildings of France wishes the installation of an urban forest integrating a playground on the complete influence of the place. This new installation will be added to the proposal of local residents, validated by the municipality.
Greening of the Saint-Aubin district
In Saint-Aubin, on goes longer. The association of inhabitants of the district “Bien vivre à Saint-Aubin” thus offers debit some spaces to insert plants. This option was preferred by local residents to simple planters, because it allows nature to be developed in the city while participating in soil dewatering. In its initial project, the collective thus evokes the debitumization of several parking spaces on rue Riquet to plant trees, shrubs or flower beds there, as was done on rue des 3 Piliers:
Same idea for Place Bachelier, for the moment entirely mineralized. Green spaces with benches to be able to take advantage of these new islands of freshness. Benches that could also be installed under the trees of Place Saint-Aubin.
After studying efficiency, the Town Hall agrees to plant three trees on Place Bachelier and to greening rue Riquet, up to 30,000 euros, the terms to be proposed next September with local residents and traders. Regarding Place Saint-Aubin, the Municipality excludes any additional vegetation due to the presence of the market and the underground car park.
Securing the bike path on boulevard Matabiau
User’s words, ” most cyclists are afraid to take the track on boulevard Matabiau : it is sometimes very narrow (especially near the Matabiau bridge), sometimes cluttered with parked vehicles (especially before the Raisin footbridge), never protected from vehicles that too often drive at speeds above 50 kilometers per hour”. According to the Toulousain who submitted a project for the development of this route, this would be the reason why cyclists find themselves on the sidewalks, in the middle of pedestrians. He thus proposeswiden the track and “plant beacons” to separate motor vehicles from cyclists.
This security operation, acclaimed by the votes of Toulouse residents, will therefore see the light of day, with the consent of the Town Hall, which effectively affirms that “work on the abandoned shoulders along the canal and on the recalibration of the tracks could make it possible to create a more comfortable cycle lane of 1.75 meterswithout reducing the number of files dedicated to motorists”. The City is also committed to securing this strip, although she has not yet acted in what way. This by allocating an envelope of 200,000 euros to the project.