the essential
This week, pedestrians and traffic will completely switch to the downstream side of the bridge. A visible change which allows users to (finally) judge the progress of a project launched more than a year ago. The end of the work remains confirmed for the end of this year 2024.
Six months. This is the time that remains before the complete reopening of the Pont Vieux. It is also a period when pedestrians, two-wheelers and motorists will have to continue to coexist on a single traffic lane and a single sidewalk. The construction site is completely switching this week from the downstream side to the upstream side of this bridge spanning the Tarn. A notable development that all users will be able to check and which will allow them to ensure that this project is progressing well. “The interventions on the installation of the new guardrail and the reconstruction of the cobblestone sidewalk on the downstream side are now complete, announces Daniel Singla, director of roads at Grand Montauban. In order not to waste time, teams have already started the construction site on the other side of the track on the Villebourbon section. I can assure you that all the teams are working on this site with the objective of having everything completed by the end of this year.
“End of work on December 15, 2024”
The bridge having been completely examined last summer using an inverted basket, companies should therefore no longer have unpleasant surprises like that of last year when the teams discovered the crumbling of imposing blocks of stone under the sidewalk . The order, delivery and installation of these new blocks had delayed the project by three months. Questioned by La Dépêche du Midi last November, Bernard Bouton was already reassuring: “These three additional months suffered during the first phase of the work can be partly made up for. The technical teams and craftsmen have acquired a certain amount of experience since the start of the project which will allow them to go faster during the second phase, assured the municipal councilor in charge of roads. We can reasonably announce an end of the work for December 15, 2024. A date which therefore still seems to hold.
DDM – Philippe Cahue
The budget revised upwards with the unplanned change of these large blocks of stone no longer seems to have changed: the project initially costed at 2.4 million euros required a single extension of 400,000 euros to cover the replacement of these stone blocks under the sidewalk.
Traffic cut on the bridge for a week this summer
However, a complete closure to traffic should be expected from July 29 to August 8. “We cannot do anything other than close the bridge for a week, giving companies time to work with larger construction machines and deliver materials to the bridge,” explains Daniel Singla. “It is also during this period closed to traffic that the rainwater drains will be pierced on both sides. Pedestrians will still be able to use the bridge on the downstream sidewalk. Businesses would even have liked to benefit from a second week of closure to traffic to work better. A wish made impossible during the major construction site coming in July on Grand-Rue Sapiac (see box) and which will already complicate travel between the upper town and Villebourbon.
It is also at the end of December that the road works on rue Général Sarrail which impose a one-way street will be completed and will finally make traffic more fluid throughout the district. So, looking forward to six months.
Grand-Rue Sapiac: a very complicated month of July
In a few days, motorists who want to travel between the upper town and Villebourbon risk tearing their hair out. (Very) urgent work to repair the sanitation and stormwater networks will have to be undertaken on Grand-Rue Sapiac. Starting Monday, July 1, the portion between rue du Tescou and the Pont Neuf roundabout will be closed to traffic for four weeks. With a Vieux bridge where traffic only goes in one direction (Ingres museum towards Villebourbon), motorists wishing to go back towards the city center will then have to take the lanes on the bank and access the top of the city via the Vieux bridge ramp. . The Sapiac bridge will also be an option to access the banks of the Tarn. Another possibility is to go further west to cross the Tarn using the Pont de l’Avenir and avoid very heavy traffic, especially the first week of July when the school holidays have not yet started. Courage.
