Closed since April 19, the portion of highway 13 (A13) which connects the A86 to Vaucresson (Hauts-de-Seine) and the Porte de Saint-Cloud, to the west of Paris, will remain inaccessible to motorists until ‘to “Tuesday April 30 inclusive”, announced Monday evening in a press release the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture and the Ile-de-France roads department.
The text specifies that the motorway is closed due to the “discovery of a crossroad in the Saint-Cloud sector” and that “the first repair work (…) could be undertaken by the end of the week” . “Under these conditions and subject to this reservation, the reopening of the A13 to traffic could take place from Wednesday May 1,” also say the prefecture and the Ile-de-France roads department, which will communicate again on Friday. “to confirm the reopening.”
The closure of this busy section of road west of Paris led to worsening traffic jams in Ile-de-France on Monday morning – upon returning from school holidays – with a peak above the average of 370 kilometers cumulative traffic jams recorded at 8:15 a.m., according to the Sytadin website. The Hauts-de-Seine prefecture announced on Friday the closure of this portion of the motorway following a “ground movement” which revealed a large crack between the viaduct and the Saint-Cloud tunnel.
On Monday morning, the Minister Delegate for Transport, Patrice Vergriete, clarified during a trip to Gennevilliers that the A13 will remain closed for “a few more days”. He recognized that the problem imposed “an effort” on Ile-de-France residents which “could not be made over time”.
Ground movement
The Hauts-de-Seine prefecture specified on Friday that the crack in question “runs along the end of the insertion ramp and crosses the A13 towards Saint-Cloud park, with a depth of 50 centimeters to 80 centimeters depending on places,” adding that the situation was “the result of a movement on the ground, the causes of which are being diagnosed. It also caused cracks in a sewerage structure located 4 meters deep under the highway.
As a result of the inconvenience caused to users, the president of the region, Valérie Pécresse, asked on Sunday “the State to take charge of making the A14 free of charge to guarantee access to Paris for all during the works and to SNCF Transilien to strengthen the public transport offer in the west”, in a message published on X.
The A13 connects Paris to Caen, in Normandy, via the south of Rouen. It is particularly used by Parisians wishing to go to the Normandy coast. The Société des autoroutes du nord et de l’east de la France (Sanef) operates this motorway, except between Paris and Orgeval (Yvelines), where the manager is the French State, represented by Dirif. The authorities and the Dirif have invited motorists to use alternative routes, in particular via the A12, the N 12 and the N 118, to avoid this passage:
