Motorists are still having to slow down on the busy departmental road 951, which links Reims to Épernay.
And there are many who use it every day, between 15,000 and 20,000 vehicles, including 8% heavy goods vehicles, and who are disturbed by the current situation.
On the descent leading to the champagne capital, traffic has been reduced from three to two lanes since December 28 following a landslide.
And the 8% slope regularly surprises motorists who can no longer overtake in one direction and must move towards the center in the other.
The reason for this development is an embankment slide, noted at the end of last year, along this road which crosses the vineyards and overlooks Épernay.
“This type of disaster is not exceptional on such an embankment, because the materials used to build this embankment, at the end of the 1980s, were of poor quality,” explains Stéphane Duhazé, director of roads for the departmental council.
These are in particular clay materials, sensitive to climatic variations.
When periods of drought and humidity follow one another, the road moves.
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The departmental council therefore decided to reduce traffic, “as a safety measure”.
“There is still a little shoulder, but to avoid straining the already weakened area, we have shifted traffic to the side opposite this slide,” continues the roads director.
This development will last several months.
A geotechnical engineer is assisting the departmental council in the various studies, but the planned work, namely strengthening the embankment with riprap and improving drainage, will not take place “before the second quarter of 2024”.
Motorists must therefore be careful.
Two minor accidents took place on Wednesday February 7 and Friday February 9 in this area, which led the departmental council to install additional markers to mark the traffic restriction.
Upstream prevention is nevertheless quite discreet and may escape the most regular users.