Le Figaro Bordeaux
The protest does not weaken.
"
We want to continue to use this axis daily and free of charge to work or move around
", explains Karine Desmoulin, the mayor of Teich in a letter to the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune.
On May 4, this elected representative from the Arcachon basin questioned the minister on the development of highway 63, south of Bordeaux.
A project that raises serious concerns among local elected officials and residents of the department, who fear the establishment of a toll near Bordeaux.
To relieve congestion on this particularly busy axis, which regularly leads to saturation at peak times, nuisance for local residents and an accident rate eight times higher than the average for French motorways, the State is considering three scenarios.
The first consists of doing nothing, the second foresees the complete development of the A63 up to the intersection between the A660 in the direction of Arcachon and the A63 in the direction of Spain, through a concession.
Finally, the third solution consists of a partial development: the part of the A63 located south of Bordeaux would be converted into 2x3 lanes and the rest of the infrastructure would not be modified.
It is the second solution that is the most contested.
With a cost of 290 million euros, it would involve the establishment of a toll, while only allowing a time saving of five to ten minutes per journey.
The third possibility would save two to four minutes of travel, but without the creation of a toll, for a cost more than six times lower (54.5 million euros).
But this sum would be borne by the State and here too borne by the taxpayers.
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A free toll for residents?
Until April 30, a public consultation was carried out in the department, with public meetings in several Gironde municipalities and the collection of contributions, a large part of which were hostile to the toll project.
“
It will just serve to further tax people who go to work to enrich motorway companies which are not very supportive of the inflation that the French are currently experiencing
”, explains a user.
“
I do not see myself paying to borrow an axis that my taxes have paid
”, fears another.
In April 2023, the community council of the Bassin d'Arcachon Sud agglomeration community (COBAS) unanimously adopted a resolution opposing any toll on the municipality of Teich and asking, if this should despite see the light of day, that "
free admission for the inhabitants of the COBAS
", those of the north of the Arcachon basin and those of the community of communes of the Val de l'Eyre be
put in place , on the grounds that the inhabitants do not
would not have to pay the consequences of international motorway traffic.
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A petition with already 30,000 signatures
With between 17 and 29% of heavy goods vehicles transiting on this axis, goods trucks from Spain are indeed regularly targeted as being partly responsible for the saturation of the motorway.
Many Girondins also want a toll exemption, but the State considers this partial exemption impossible, because it would be "
contrary to the equality of users before the toll
", while considering however that "
subscriptions could be put in place , with the possible support of local authorities who would have the possibility of financing them if they so wish
”.
Karine Desmoulin once again takes up these elements in her letter to the Minister of Transport.
"
It is not up to the inhabitants of the Arcachon basin, to the Girondins who live and work in the basin and in the Bordeaux conurbation, to finance the infrastructures of international exchanges", she writes, hammering
that "
the communities have already strongly contributed to the financing of the development and the securing of this road network
", and judging "
unacceptable that this section financed by taxpayers, by their local taxes, becomes paying for the benefit of large private groups whose vertiginous profits have been
underlined by Bercy
".
Last week, the Minister of Transport seems to have opened a first breach by promising an answer on the road projects "
by the beginning of the summer"
, and by affirming his desire to "
reduce the share of road projects, to give priority to public transport and rail transport
”.
In the meantime, a petition, already bringing together more than 30,000 signatories, has been launched by Karine Desmoulin to unite the many opponents of this project.
