An impressive traffic jam formed around twenty kilometers of the A36 on the evening of Thursday, November 21, near Montbéliard, reports BFMTV. “The situation is improving little by little,” assures the Doubs prefecture, Friday November 22. “Around 2,000 to 2,500 heavy goods vehicles remained stranded on Friday, mid-morning, in Franche-Comté.
Traffic jams as far as the eye can see and traffic at a standstill. Faced with the dire weather conditions that have crossed France since Thursday, November 21, road traffic has been largely disrupted on a large number of sections. In particular on the A36 motorway where up to 800 trucks were stuck, as well as around a hundred light vehicles, over a 20-kilometer stretch in the Montbéliard sector, during the evening, reports BFMTV. At the start of the morning, Friday November 22, around a hundred heavy goods vehicles still remained stuck.
On the air of our colleagues, the Minister for Transport, François Durovray indicated that approximately 1,800 trucks are blocked in Franche-Comté, on the A28 and A36 axes, Friday morning. François Durovray points the finger “uncivil behavior“and the fact that a”a certain number of drivers did not respect the instructions” of a traffic ban. Contacted by BFMTV, Saadia Tamelikecht, chief of staff of the prefect of Doubs, revised this figure upwards mid-morning on Friday, indicating that “approximately 2,000 to 2,500 heavy goods vehicles” are currently stored at rest areas and along the A36 motorway. One lane of traffic remains clear for light vehicles.
“The situation is gradually improving“, indicates the Doubs prefecture to our colleagues. The gendarmerie and motorway services have been deployed to clear the lanes, but these operations take an enormous amount of time due to the weather conditions. Faced with this massive traffic jam, motorists are called to avoid the area and school transport will be suspended until at least noon, the prefecture announced on X.
Between 10 and 20 centimeters of snow in the Doubs
While Doubs is still placed on orange snow-ice alert until midday this Friday, a thick layer of snow settled on the department's roads on Thursday, causing these significant disruptions. “In Doubs, Haute-Saône, Territoire de Belfort and Haut-Rhin, the layer of snow is thicker, between 10 and 20 cm by the second part of the night“, indicated Météo-France in a bulletin. Around 3 a.m. in the night, Autoroute INFO 107.7 mentioned on X a “very delicate situation“, showing impressive images of a long line of trucks stuck on the road.
Guest of BFMTV, Friday November 22, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher launched “a call for responsibility“and was surprised that heavy goods vehicles took to the roads despite the traffic bans.”Instructions were not followed“, regrets the minister, who recalls that these indications are not decreed”to annoy people (but) to protect them“.
The government member also stressed that until “270,000 homes“were deprived of electricity due to bad weather on Thursday, November 21.”Encore 200 000 clients” are affected by power outages Friday morning.
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