Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The pedestrian street construction site halfway

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“We have one year of work left. We’re about halfway there,” says Patrice Martin, deputy mayor to the roads of the City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche), Thursday November 7, 2024 during a press briefing.

Guided tours for information

The municipality had opened an information center on this major construction site in a former commercial hut on rue Grande rue. “We vacated the premises which served as permanent office. The Mustache ice cream parlor is working well and needs expansion. As we are there to encourage traders and the office was the neighboring premises, he is in the process of fitting it out,” says Patrice Martin.

Instead of redeveloping a new information point, the City preferred to set up “guided tours of the construction site every first Thursday of the month”, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. departing from Place de Gaulle, in front of the LCL bank. These are the two mediators Laëtitia and Alexane who receive and inform people wishing to know more about this major project. They also support traders in preparing compensation claims (read the box).

7.3 million. This is the amount invested by the City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin to renovate these pedestrian streets which were built from 1977 to 1980

“Our objective is to complete the work by the end of November 2025. It is a complex project because it is in a sector constrained in terms of space and commercial density. There are 170 traders on this pedestrian plateau,” explains Patrice Martin.

“With rare exceptions, merchants have remained open. We have a merchant who was forced to close for two weeks, linked to a complexity on the water network. »

Because it is not just a question of renovating the coverings and the aesthetics but also of renovating all the networks, and there are many of them, in the basement.

The City is also taking the opportunity to replace the public lighting system with modern LED lights which only illuminate the ground and whose intensity could be managed.

Already €50,000 in compensation

Rue Maréchal-Foch was inaugurated on July 3, 2024. Work on Place de Gaulle has been completed since mid-April. “Grande rue is also finished. It's a great satisfaction. We were supposed to finish Rue du Château in February, it will be finished at the end of November. It’s a good thing,” rejoices Patrice Martin.

As the municipality had promised, room will then be made for the end of year holiday break. Thus, the work on rue du Commerce and rue des Portes will be paused on November 22, 2024. “We will extend rue du Château until the end of November to finish it,” indicates the elected official.

“Everything will be ready for the launch of the illuminations at the beginning of December. The site will restart in January with work on the water cycle on rue du Commerce and Enedis work then on the water cycle on rue des Portes. »

A crossroads for all pedestrian streets, Place de l'Etoile will be renovated from February to March. The end of the work on rue du Commerce and place de la Rose is currently scheduled for September 2025 and that of rue des Portes and place de Verdun on November 20, 2025 which, barring contingencies, will mark the end of the two years of construction on the pedestrian platform. However, in the following weeks, these streets will only be “returned” to pedestrians: “Heavy machinery will not be authorized initially to give the mortar time to dry. »

Next visits Thursday December 5. To be continuously informed of the progress of the work as construction progresses, register in the WhatsApp loop by sending “I would like to be registered in the WhatsApp loop” to 06 80 53 54 25 or send an email to the following address: [email protected]

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