Since the destruction of the Vallauri bridge, the inhabitants of Urtis feel “wiped off the map”, according to comments made in a recently released press release. It is denounced, the removal of numerous indicative signs, forcing users to borrow roads deemed dangerous to be able to get to the hamlet.
“I hope everyone understands that this act was sponsored.” These are the words written on a press release consulted by BFM DICI and written by Marie-José Roux, resident of Urtis, a hamlet in Venterol (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), for several years.
The collective frustration that she expresses is, according to her, due to an event that did not occur by chance: the destruction of the Valauri bridge.
“At the end of the 90s, beginning of the 2000s, someone started taking stones from the bridge. There was a gendarmerie investigation and no investigation was carried out,” she explains to BFM DICI .
Diversion signs
Since the destruction of the bridge, reaching the hamlet in the commune of Venterol has become complicated. Although its direction is still indicated at altitude, a few meters lower at the Curbans hydroelectric power station, the directional signs have been removed, in favor of diversion signs.
Something which, according to her, could have been avoided if the investigation had continued and made it possible to move things forward. As a result, residents find themselves forced to use roads deemed dangerous, or even accident-prone.
“I don’t understand why from one day to the next, we find ourselves prohibited from accessing our road, it is ours,” laments Marie-José.
“We go last for everything”
A feeling of abandonment shared by Romain Noël, former municipal councilor. Although he tried to make things happen during his career, he was turned down on all of these offers.
“We go last, for everything. For the road, for the fiber… There aren’t many of us so we don’t count. We do it first for the places where there are more people and we always postpone the exchanges …”
Decision-making, which made him resign from his position. To date, he has come to the point of blocking some roads around his home, in the hope of getting positive feedback from neighboring communities, for the good of Urtis.
