Haute-Garonne: these cities that pass at 30 km / hour
In Blagnac, from this Monday, January 16, all streets will be limited to 30 km / hour maximum. Many cities thus pass on speed to the benefit of local residents and cyclists.
Blagnac goes to 30. From today Monday, all the streets of the town, the main arteries included, are limited to 30 km / hour maximum. This undoubtedly makes the city of Airbus the first in the department to go so far in its desire to reduce automobile speed. “At the start, the idea was to keep the main roads at 50 km/hour”, explains Joseph Carles, the mayor. But on the road to Granada for example, which connects the city center to the Andromeda district, “there are about ten pedestrian crossings with a speed reduced to 30 km / hour”. And it was easier, as the municipal services proposed, to harmonize at 30. And to make the measurement more readable.
As a result, Blagnac will save signs: from 450 signs, the city will go to 50, 25 at the entrances and 25 at the exits.
Reducing the speed of cars in town is, in Blagnac as everywhere else, a strong demand from residents. Many municipalities have already adopted 30 km/hour on part of their territory. And today, measurement is gaining ground. Toulouse has pledged to reduce 80% of its streets to 30 by the end of the mandate in 2026. Half are already there. Colomiers is studying an extension of its perimeter.
And the more distant or smaller municipalities also pass there. This has been the case for Quint-Fonsegrives since November 30. From Saint-Orens since the beginning of 2022. But also from Garidech, towards Albi, or even the village of Vacquiers north of Toulouse, to take just a few examples.
Place for the bike
“It was not a campaign commitment but when we worked on the bike plan, the problem of speed came up”, explains Joseph Carles who said he was taking on a measure that he was sending “unpopular” despite the request. His counterpart and neighbor of Plaisance-du-Touch, Philippe Guyot, has also taken the decision of 30 while maintaining the main axes at 50. The objective: “to calm traffic to encourage cycling among all those who still have fears. ” Residents of the roads but also cyclists are therefore the winners. “The 30 km/hour allows us to go faster on the bike without waiting for the construction of cycle paths”, continues Philippe Guyot.
Still in the West, Pibrac is also setting up February 30 in the center and neighborhoods. “Pibrac experiences very heavy traffic in the morning and evening with the saturation of the RN 124”, explains Brigitte Hillat, deputy mayor. And many cars pass through the city. The idea here too is “to promote sharing” of the roadway and “to guarantee the safety of pedestrians and cyclists”. In this municipality, the 30 km/hour is one lever among others, with the development of bicycles, buses and trains, to encourage other modes of travel than the car.
New radars in Toulouse
In Toulouse, the 30 zones are not new but, during the municipal elections of 2020, the mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc, undertook to multiply them by setting the objective of 80% of streets at 30 km / hour. “We are now at 53% of the streets in zone 30”, observes Maxime Boyer, deputy mayor, who considers the objective achievable as planned by 2026. The main axes remain at 50 km / hour. On the speed control aspect, the elected official explains that “in general, there is first of all an important work of pedagogy” and signaling. The inscriptions on the ground have notably multiplied. Educational radars have emerged in recent years in Toulouse. And, for a year, as part of an experiment, twenty speed radars have been deployed on the axes at 50 km / hour. Radars that must flash by the end of the first quarter.