“We have to be consistent: at a time of ecological planning, we cannot do as before,” assured Clément Beaune, at the end of September on France Inter, announcing that several motorway projects “ not yet launched” would be “stopped”. Only the most “useful” will be maintained, according to the Minister of Transport. Among these is the future Autoroute 69 (A69) between Toulouse and Castres, work on which is due to resume on Monday, October 16, the ministry announced.
What about other projects? Neither the minister nor his ministry have yet revealed which areas would be sacrificed. The government had promised to decide among “around ten projects” currently under review, the list of which was to be detailed in mid-October.
While waiting for these official announcements, we have listed the main motorway projects, according to their progress: some are already under construction, others have obtained a declaration of public utility (DUP), a third category has not not yet this DUP but has already passed the evaluation commission stages, while several others are pending, or even abandoned.
Highways under construction
The new “twice two lanes”, which should cost around 450 million euros, including 23 million in public money, should open up Castres and reduce travel time to Toulouse, according to its defenders. The Atosca concessionaire will be able to operate the 53 new kilometers of motorway planned for 2025 for fifty-five years.
Projects declared of public utility
Benefiting from a declaration of public utility, an essential step which is decided following a public utility investigation and which paves the way for the expropriations necessary at the start of the work, these projects could come to fruition quickly.
Projects deemed priority
These files do not yet have a declaration of public utility, but they have received positive evaluations by the study commissions which guide the executive’s choices.
Projects on hold
Sometimes discussed for years, and presented in different formats, these projects are no longer really on the agenda.
Several projects abandoned in recent years
The projects which will be rejected by the Minister of Transport will join the long list of motorway projects abandoned in recent years: the A45 between Lyon and Saint-Etienne, which had nevertheless received a DUP which expired in 2020, the A24 Amiens-Lille, the southeast bypass of Lille, the extension of the A51 between Grenoble and La Saulce, or the A831 in Charente-Maritime.
