Le Figaro Lyon
They are half a dozen this Monday around two tables put end to end in the bakery of 272 route de Genas, in Bron. Some came from Villeurbanne, just across the sidewalk. And all are railing against this new bus rapid transit (BRT) line, the first in the Lyon conurbation, which will nevertheless offer within three years the possibility of connecting their district to the heart of Part-Dieu in eight minutes. Yes, but the price to pay for these residents is far too high. Much more than the 2 euros of the single ticket and the 120 million infrastructures. Because it is their homes that are in danger.
While in the grey outskirts of Lyon, winter stretched between hospitals and the ring road, several residents of the Genas road have indeed received phone calls from Sytral, the union organizing transport in the metropolis. With an ad to make you jump out of the mittens. "'Your home is aligned,'" I was told on the phone," says Sylvie. That is to say, it is on the route of the bus and will have to be shot, "she translates after having the thing explained to herself in secular language. Nothing of a telephone hoax since, since then, a "relations officer" has passed, sometimes with an agent of the domains to estimate the parcels concerned, whose number appears in color on the copy of the cadastre sent to the concerned.
Entire lives
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I've been living there for 68 years, in this family home," says Pascal Jobert, who is not necessarily opposed to cashing a cheque to sink his retirement elsewhere. A mobility that not everyone can afford, especially traders. No more than this fifty-year-old who lost her husband a few months ago, and with him the plumbing activity that made them live. What about this octogenarian couple too, whose husband is sick? "We do not intend to let this happen," says Sandrine Claudin, spokesperson for the collective of residents and traders of the road to Genas. We obtained 2000 signatures for our paper petition in addition to the online one (1257 as of May 19, Editor's note)". They are supported by the mayor of Bron, Jérémie Bréaud (LR) who points to the risk for commercial activity.
Yet this project, they do not discover. Neither the residents, nor the signatories, nor even the elected officials. The first consultation was launched on 11 October 2021. The first consultation brochure focuses a great deal of attention on BRT. Only one evasive mention is made to "the development of bicycle lanes" without further details. "There was a project but not under these conditions, says Sandrine Claudin. The Lyon way (named after these fast bike lanes wanted by the ecologist metropolis, Editor's note) was not in consultation. " And that changes everything! Because with their ambitious specifications in terms of cycling, the Lyon Ways, whose number 11 will pass through this route, require 4.5 meters of additional width, increasing the total footprint to nearly 25 meters. So much so that the end of the sidewalk will arrive... at the foot where the cashier of the Harbaoui brothers proceeds to the cashing of the chopsticks.
Change of model
On the substance of the project, the ecologist executive assumes. "We are reducing the space allocated to the all-car model in an environment that is currently extremely degraded for pedestrians and cyclists." Who has already walked on this peripheral artery can not contradict the elect. But who has already spent a few tens of minutes in the bakery of the Harbaoui brothers can also not deny that in addition to the regulars who come to get "its delicious bread", the local clientele is "a passing clientele more than neighborhood", in the words of Mayor Jérémie Bréaud. And especially passing by cars, as evidenced by the paint-stained pants and plastered hands of 11:30 a.m. sandwich buyers. A change of model, so with "a requalification from façade to façade", proposed by Vincent Monot. "We will vegetate, enlarge the sidewalks and introduce this bus corridor," he boasts. All without losing traffic lanes. A real urban boulevard. The forecast is 25,000 passengers and 6000,25 cyclists per day. Disproportionate according to Sandrine Claudin pointing out that the current bus <> is rarely full. "People come by tram-train from Crémieu or by car from Nord-Isère and as the metropolis does not want a park and ride, they will have to continue to return to Lyon by car," she argues.
As it stands, a bike lane borders each side of the roadway with two lanes. A.S. / Le Figaro
Sylvie Vincent points to "sidewalks too wide" for a neighborhood with little pedestrian. Jérémie Bréaud the construction of new housing by the hundreds in the neighborhood and fears embolism, with minute stops that will block traffic, the central corridor of the BRT not being overlapping. "In any case, it will not pass by car, answers the elected. It is a changing district for which we want to recreate centralities, we cannot be satisfied with an urban highway where the car is king, even if I can understand the apprehensions". To concerns about the circulation of emergency services, in this sector close to hospitals, the elected official ensures that their movements will be facilitated by traffic on the BRT plateau, which will be overlappable at intersections. "The challenge is also to connect the seven paths, and to take advantage of the connections to the Chassieu lines," continues Vincent Monot. We need shelf, we can't reduce the width on small portions." Especially since two meters wide will be devoted to the planting of trees, 550 trees on the entire line.
Balance of power and counter-proposals
A Sytral relationship manager has already begun to meet with local residents, sometimes with the Domains, responsible for estimating the plots and buildings with a view to a financial proposal for redemption. To the Harbaoui brothers, smiling and appreciated as much as their bread in the neighborhood, it was proposed to move their commercial premises back to a rear plot, to set up their one-storey lobby, built for the occasion. A new investment for the flourishing bakery, whose parking lot will also be planed. A car park "open to all", which also benefits the customers of the pharmacy opposite, on the sidewalk Villeurbannais. Valérie Molle has been asking for a PRM (for people with reduced mobility) place for years. At 335, Sylvie Vincent is worried about losing part of the property that housed her late husband's activity. She also rented another part. Very uplifted, she worries about having to "lose [her] house too". It is also a commercial space on the ground floor that "pays for my retirement," says Pascal Jobert, necessarily worried even if he is ready to negotiate. "No one will be abandoned," says Vincent Monot. There are no proposals for the moment, discussions continue, we exchange on a case-by-case basis."
Local residents say they are ready to seize the administrative justice. A.S. / Le Figaro
Hence the interest also for local residents to establish a balance of power. Which could materialize in an action before the administrative justice. Before that, the key phase of the public inquiry will intervene and then the declaration of public utility by the prefecture if necessary. It is scheduled for the end of 2023, for the launch of work in the wake and delivery in 2026, the year of electoral renewal. Only then can there be an expropriation. "We are in the middle of the process, we are talking about land acquisitions to limit expropriations and discussions will continue," says Vincent Monot "Expropriation is a year and a half of procedure, says Sylvie Vincent. But the elections are in 2026." In the meantime, the collective is trying to reflect on constructive counter-proposals that should soon be formalized.
