Is the A69 between Toulouse-Castres in the general interest? Administrative justice is expected to announce Monday whether it will stop the construction site deemed “devastating” for the environment by environmentalists or whether it will give the green light to continue the work.
On November 25, before the administrative court of Toulouse, the public rapporteur, whose opinions are often followed, came out to everyone's surprise in favor of a cancellation of the authorizations for the A69 construction site, which would lead to the immediate suspension of the work started in 2023.
Mona Rousseau estimated that there is no “compelling reason of major public interest (RIIPM)” justifying the construction of the A69, the site of which has been the subject of strong opposition from environmentalists for several months. . Hailed by anti-A69 activists, Mona Rousseau's opinion caused concern among supporters of this new 53 km infrastructure.
All our information on the A69
Already 300 million euros spent on a cost of 450
“There are people who do not understand that, at this stage of the work, we can call into question the construction of the highway. People can clearly see all the work that has been undertaken,” declared Macronist MP Jean Terlier on Friday, former president of the parliamentary commission of inquiry on the A69 until the dissolution of the Assembly in June.
The manufacturer and future concessionaire of the motorway, Atosca, highlights the work already carried out at a cost of 300 million euros – out of a forecast budget of 450 million – and announces that the A69 will be put into service at the end of 2025. On the other hand, , according to the collective of opponents the Way is clear, the site is very late and commissioning is impossible before “at least” the summer of 2026.
-At the hearing, Mona Rousseau notably considered it “excessive” to invoke a “real situation of isolation” of the south of the Tarn, calling into question one of the main arguments of the supporters of the motorway. She also estimated that the time saving of around twenty minutes between Toulouse and Castres made possible by this toll motorway would be accompanied by a “deterioration” of the free road.
What can happen?
If the rapporteur's opinion is followed by the court, the work should stop. The State could then appeal and ask the administrative courts to authorize the continuation of the work pending the hearing.
The court could also partially follow the public rapporteur and ask the State to modify part of the project, which would not necessarily result in stopping all of the work. Finally, the court could reject the request to suspend the construction site. Work would then continue until a probable appeal hearing, this time at the request of opponents of the A69.
The decision is expected on Monday, but it could be known in the following days.
The fact that their appeals have not yet been examined was one of the main arguments of environmentalists contesting the continuation of the construction site, while the current national road is far from being saturated.
