The final route of the Marans bypass was presented on October 15, 2024 to the residents of the commune of Charente-Maritime, during a public meeting. The road project aims to relieve congestion in the town of Marans, located on an extremely busy route linking Vendée to La Rochelle and frequently congested. “The rue d’Aligre (which crosses Marans), is in a deplorable state, it is almost a disaster street”, indicates Sylvie Marcilly, president of the Charente-Maritime department.
The road would therefore start after L'Île-d'Elle, around 200 meters after the Gouffre, would bypass the town to the east by spanning the Vendée river, the railway and the Banche canal to join the road to La Rochelle. This represents seven kilometers of route, including five new kilometers, 11 to 13 hectares of land area, 25 properties and ten farmers affected and 20 homes within a 200 m perimeter of the future road.
“We avoided flood zones”
“The results of the prior consultation are very encouraging, assures the president of the Charente-Maritime department. Out of 186 people questioned, 80% expressed a favorable opinion. The project is supported by the population, because it provides answers to nuisances. » She indicates that “the impacts on the agricultural world and the environment have been taken into account” : land was offered to farmers and compensation was provided for the environment, notably the planting of trees. “We identified all the wetlands and characterized their functionality. Flood areas used for the expansion of water were avoided. »
Work planned for 2027
This project is estimated at 60 million euros. Numerous studies are still planned before work begins in 2027. Charente-Maritime hopes to open this road in 2030, in six years. “I agreed with my Vendée counterpart that we would soon present this project to Vendée elected officials,” promises Sylvie Marcilly.
This passage was really the black spot for traffic on the Vendée-La Rochelle axis. But, eight years after the abandonment in 2015 of the A831 motorway project which was to connect the A83 (Nantes-Niort) and the A837 (Rochefort-Saintes) – in particular to preserve the Marais Poitevin wetland – the president of department of Vendée validated in 2022 the transformation into three lanes of the Fontenay-le-Comte – Marans axis. For, according to him, “open up the South Vendée”and allow “save time to reach La Rochelle from Fontenay-le-Comte” with traffic limited to 90 km/h (instead of 80 km/h currently) and a passing lane for overtaking. The Department has not yet announced the status of this project.
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