“The heavy goods vehicles are clearly responsible for this situation: they did not respect the instructions and continued to drive, often poorly equipped and left in bulk,” explained the Paris Rhin Rhône motorway operator (APRR), which makes part of the A36, where several hundred vehicles were still stuck this Friday morning, November 22, and had been since the evening before.
“The Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher also said it on the radio, the instructions were not followed and this situation is not exclusive to the A36 but observed throughout the territory where it snowed. »
Although this is not a first for the APRR, “a blocking phenomenon of this magnitude is still quite rare. A lack of respect for instructions of this magnitude, we are not used to that.”
Late restrictions
According to the operator, the first traffic jams formed from 9 p.m. and the restrictions for trucks, decreed by the prefectures (traffic bans, speed and overtaking limits) “were late in intervening. These measures should have been taken much earlier,” deplores the APRR.
Especially since some trucks still plunged into traffic and, poorly equipped, got in the way and got stuck, obstructing traffic.
An embolism that the intervention of the gendarmes to block and store heavy goods vehicles, from 11 p.m., particularly between the Audelange and Gendrey areas, could not resolve.
The Red Cross activated
As for the messages broadcast by Autoroute Info, according to which the road wrecks would receive blankets, coffee and other hot drinks? The APRR assures that “the Red Cross, which is called upon in these cases, was activated at 9:55 p.m. in the Villars sector, with support from the Besançon district”.
In an update on the traffic situation at 11:45 a.m., more than 12 hours after the first traffic jams, the APRR reported weather disruptions still in progress on the A6 and A36 axes, with 31 departments still on alert. snow and ice, including the eight in Burgundy Franche-Comté.
The situation at midday
In detail, snowfall being possible until the end of the day, the APRR reports the following situation this Friday at midday:
On the A36, in the Sochaux sector: “Traffic is at a standstill when arriving at Sochaux and crossing Montbéliard. At exit No. 7, the immobilized heavy goods vehicles gradually leave. »
In the Jura sector: “At Dole, the motorway is closed after the junction with the A39. Heavy goods vehicles are stored with a driving ban imposed by the prefecture. They can only leave if they are equipped (Mountain law). Filtering is carried out at the Dole service area by law enforcement. »
On the A6 motorway, direction Paris Lyon: “In the Auxerre sector (Yonne), traffic remains severely disrupted, with major slowdowns. The resumption of traffic is gradual. »
