between two bridges, this modern Bordeaux which is expanding

> This article is taken from the 64-page special issue “A new bridge over the Garonne”, available on newsstands and on the “Sud Ouest” store. 3,90 €.

It was a long, straight expressway like an airport runway, like a motorway that released its stream of cars all the way to the city centre. Now is the time for trees, wide sidewalks to stroll on and a long cycle path along the banks: an “urban boulevard”. It is not only a new bridge over the Garonne that is opening this summer, it is also the new Bordeaux that is being extended, rebuilt on its own remains. From one bridge to the next, it is yet another memory of the 1960s and 1970s and its era of all-cars that is being buried: exit, the old Boulevard des Frères-Moga like a race track, its banks between two waters and the shady atmosphere of Paludate, former kingdom of nightclubs and slaughterhouses, a nocturnal era of which little remains except the morning ballet of trucks around the MIN (national interest market, Editor’s note).

As we forgot the old hangars, a little further along, along the 18th century façade, we can clearly see what is happening here now, between traffic pacification and greening: we have not seen such a construction site on the Bordeaux banks since the revolution of the quays, launched at the beginning of the 2000s. It is therefore an entire entrance to the city that we rediscover between the new Simone-Veil bridge and the Saint-Jean bridge. In this month of June, the place shows the face promised by Euratlantique at the beginning of the 2010s, with this peaceful riverside road that completes the transformation of the district, and its trinity Méca, Boca, Caisse d’épargne.

“Connecting the river banks and the city centre”, “abandoning the 2×2 lanes as we know it” to make it a “city centre avenue”: the €27 million project is keeping its promises, from the first phase, carried out between the Pont Saint-Jean and the Rue de la Seiglière (at the level of the old waste disposal site), to the section up to the Pont Veil, where the impressive Bouygues rotunda project (770 housing units, an office building and around twenty shops, for a €100 million operation) is rising on the site of the old BMW dealership. And, while waiting for the next steps (a little further up, on the Bègles side), the UCPA should have opened its swimming pool here in 2027.

18 hectares planted with vegetation

It is an understatement to say that Euratlantique is offering itself a nice showcase here, over 1.5 km. Because this extension of the Bordeaux quays, a sort of left bank counterpart to the Parc aux Angéliques and the Belvédère district which has risen on the right bank, is promised massive greening – far from the “concreting” of which the national interest operation (OIN) is usually accused. 3,000 plantations are planned, including 800 trees. Thus, the sector will have gone from 3 to 18 hectares of green spaces by the end of the year.

All that is left is the finishing touches to the banks, a 10-metre strip between the road and the Garonne, called the “Ribeira promenade”, connected to the express cycle network (ReVE) of the Métropole. “It will be like on the Quai des Sports: in the long term, a path for cyclists and pedestrians without any break and without any road space between the road and the water”, says Didier Jeanjean, the deputy mayor in charge of nature in the city, who welcomes “an incredible effort in greening”, delighted to see what has been “taking shape” for months.

Under the Saint-Jean bridge, a park

For almost a year, we have seen the access to the Saint-Jean bridge change appearance several times: the “bridgehead” is no longer this strange octopus seen from the sky, but a large crossroads – we will have to get used to it! – which will redistribute traffic flows towards the right bank, Paludate or the Sainte-Croix quay. The rest is to become the Descas park, composed of an “urban farm” and a park “of more than 2 hectares”, directly connected to the quays. This project began in July 2023 and will continue all year round. This park will correspond to the “rue Bordelaise”, aka Canopia, this shopping and green avenue cut through to the station. Incidentally, the district has been renamed. We say “Paludate-Corto-Maltese” now.

The UCPA swimming pool

Opening scheduled for 2027. This should complete the modernization of the Quai de Paludate: between the Simone-Veil and Saint-Jean bridges, after the Méca, the Boca and the riverside promenade, what was an austere artery of nightclubs becomes a new and lively district. And, to top it all off, a new swimming pool! Announced for a long time in this sector of Euratlantique, along the quays, in place of the old waste disposal site, the UCPA is preparing the creation of a 25-meter pool, play and wellness areas (with fitness, sauna, hammam, cold baths, etc.) as well as a restaurant, on 3,500 m². The UCPA, already at work on the Aqua Stadium in Mérignac and its “sports cathedral” in Brazza, would thus offer Bordeaux its fifth swimming pool. We should discover its appearance in the coming months.