On the Loire, the Jargeau bridge is moving fast, to the chagrin of the ecologists

"The work preserves the ecosystem as much as possible", immediately launches Marc Gaudet, president (UDI) of the departmental council of Loiret, to present the progress of the Jargeau bypass site, which includes a new bridge over the Loire.

A boom was placed to the south of the river, so as to allow the creation of the piers of the future bridge without diverting the watercourse, and avoiding the circulation of machinery on the banks and the bed of the river.

By the end of the year, the northern part will be connected.

Read alsoDordogne: the Beynac deviation falls into the water

“It is wrong to say that we are accelerating.

The site is progressing normally, ”argues Marc Gaudet, while two appeals to administrative justice and an additional environmental study must be examined.

The bridge (for approximately 500m) and the 15km detour will be completed in 2025.

For their part, the ecologists of the Mardiéval association, member of the La Loire Vivra collective, and France Nature Environnement (FNE) deplore this new work "useless and expensive, built in the heart of a wild area classified Natura 2000", summarizes Thierry. Soler, former EELV departmental councilor and new president of Mardiéval.

Expected by the four municipalities concerned, namely Jargeau, Saint-Denis-de-Hôtel, Darvoy and Mardié, this new axis must reduce traffic in town centers, "where residents want to be able to open their windows, and move around quietly, without the ballet of heavyweights, ”defends Marc Gaudet.

"There will be no concreting"

Environmentalists admit the "nuisance for residents of the current road, but creating a new road will attract even more traffic", says Thierry Soler.

Then will come the creation of housing, even business zones along the new axis, he continues in substance.

“We are credited with an archaic vision of development.

Everything that borders the deviation is sanctuary, there will be no concreting, ”says Marc Gaudet.

Mardiéval and FNE got in touch with Me Jean-Philippe Maginot, the Bordeaux lawyer who forced, in August 2020, the Dordogne department to dismantle the Beynac bridge.

The associations hope to obtain the same result in the Loiret.