the essential
After a year 2024 marked by the completion of the Camélat bridge, construction sites continue throughout the department, with the watchwords: attractiveness, ecology and modernization.
Avenue Jean-Jaurès soon to be completed in Agen
Revamping Avenue Jean-Jaurès in Agen had been in the City's pipeline for ten years. Started in October 2023, the work is nearing completion. After almost a year and a half of construction, the neighborhood has been transformed. Beautiful cycle paths have been traced from Porte du Pin to Avenue Michelet; vegetation – which will give way to an avenue of trees within a few years – has been planted; and the roads have been completely redone from the start of the avenue to the military barracks. The last phase, which concerns the section between the 48th transmission regiment and the Toulouse road, will end on March 21. On this date, it will again be possible to travel in both directions. But the work on avenue Jean-Jaurès will only be definitively completed with the new development of the square in front of the Sacré-Cœur church which should be delivered around August 2025.
A new site for the Babcock Wanson company in Nérac
DDM – DDM MORAD CHERCHARI
The economic flagship of Albret with a turnover of around 300 million euros, the Babcock Wanson company, specializing in industrial boilers, is in the process of building its new site. From a four-hectare factory, stuck in the city, the new site, located on Route d'Agen at the entrance to the city, will offer seven hectares. Work on the new departmental road began last December and work on the next Babcock factory will follow during 2025. With 18 months of work planned, it should emerge from the ground in the first half of 2026. The second part of the The factory will be established later, in approximately five years. This expansion should lead to the recruitment of 20 to 40 additional employees in the Lot-et-Garonnaise company.
The much debated Agen-Brax LGV project
DDM – XAVIER DE FENOYL /
Even if it will not see the light of day before 2030, the Agen-Brax high-speed line (LGV) project will continue to come to fruition in 2025. As a reminder, the project is part of that of the Toulouse-LGV Bordeaux/Bordeaux-Dax. The Agen-Brax station will be one of three new ones with Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban. The coming year will be reserved for sketches and feasibility studies (first semester), and the design phase (second semester). The preparatory work, including the establishment of the connection between the two Agen stations with the construction of the Camélat bridge, will take place between 2028 and 2029. The work on the LGV station will begin in 2029 and should end in 2030. The first travelers should board TGVs at Brax in 2032.
Final straight line for the RN 21
Photo Guillaume Béars
The construction of the new RN 21 between Saint-Antoine-de-Ficalba and Monbalen should be completed in the coming months. Since the start of the project in 2023, several rainwater retention basins have been dug and two new roundabouts have been built. The first wearing course was laid at the end of 2024. All that is missing is the junction with the Antonin roundabout. In the coming months, workers will work on installing the 2 km long track, the slides and the sanitation. Delivery of the site is planned by the end of the first half. 2025 will therefore mark the end of the development of the RN21 for the Villeneuvois sector. All that will be missing is the Artigues diversion to overcome this thorny issue of the reclassification of the national road in Lot-et-Garonne.
Two major projects in Villeneuve-sur-Lot
Photo – DDM
The first major project, described as the “project of the century”, is that of the restoration of the Sainte-Catherine church. The work, initiated in the spring, initially focused on the roof. Next will come the renovation of the apse and sacristy, the side facades and the main entrance and, finally, the 54 meter bell tower. A project worth 3.6 million euros in total, which will last six years. The second project is that of the redevelopment of the Georges-Leygues alleys. The work, which resumed on January 6, will continue this year on the development of pedestrian paths and the cycle path. The Villeneuve-sur-Lot showcase will become concrete in 2025.
Renovation of the Agen Museum of Fine Arts
DDM – DDM MORAD CHERCHARI
It is a project “costing between 15 and 17 million euros” which will involve the Agen municipality “on at least two mandates”. The renovation of the Agen Museum of Fine Arts was validated during the last municipal council, during which the architect presented the different phases of the project. The first will end at the end of 2025, it involves the demolition of the Aunac wing. A new, more “contemporary, modern and transparent” entrance will be built at Rue Chaudordy. The outlines of a new scenography of the place were also revealed. “In the museum, certain parts will be restructured, others rebuilt,” indicated the mayor during the municipal council, indicating that the financing of this project will be spread “over three and probably four years” and that “the whole work will be done in 2026 and 2027.”
A more ecological Urban Heat Network for the Agen metropolitan area
Photo Morad Cherchari
This project, which represents €20 million, is part of an objective of accelerating the energy transition for the Agen conurbation. The new urban heating network, which should be operational at the end of the year, will allow residents to heat themselves using energy produced from waste that cannot be recycled. Work began in April 2024 and has continued since January 6 in Washington. They will take place in three stages (from January 6 to 24; then from January 27 to February 14 and from February 17 to March 7) before moving to other axes of the city for an estimated completion of work in October 2025.
