Toulouse. A cycle path will see the light of day on the boulevard, along the Canal du Midi: construction begins

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Friday December 13, 2024, Toulouse Metropolis announces the creation of “a transitional cycle path on Boulevard des Minimes”.

It will be created on the part between rue Négreneys and avenue de Lyon.

Where the cycle path will see the light of day

“To secure the movement of pedestrians along the Canal du Midi and support the strong development of cycling, we are developing this transitional cycle path on Boulevard des Minimes. It will be one-way and will be installed on the roadway in place of one of the traffic lanes,” explains Toulouse Métropole in a press release.

The current cycle path is on the banks of the Canal du Midi. It is therefore also used by pedestrians, which does not fail to create tension.

Opening in 2025

“This new development will make it possible to limit the difficulties between pedestrians and bicycles, in an area where, on average, 5,500 bicycles and 10,500 cars circulate daily, and also to calm down the banks of the Canal, very frequented by both pedestrians and tourists. cyclists,” confirms the Metropolis.

Work is beginning “for opening to bicycle traffic at the beginning of 2025”, announces Toulouse Métropole, which refers to an experiment.

The banks reserved for pedestrians

“As the experiment progresses, this layout will be adjusted to allow for smooth traffic flow. In the spring, it will be significantly modified to become a two-way path, thus making it even safer for pedestrians to travel, for whom the banks of the canal will be reserved,” assures the community.

As a reminder, in 2022, and for the same reasons, the City of Toulouse created a one-kilometer two-way cycle path between the Demoiselles bridge and the Saint-Sauveur port.

Reduce traffic along the canal

The new cycle path Boulevard des Minimes is a new attempt by the Metropolis to reduce car traffic on the banks of the Canal du Midi which constitute a very important automobile transit axis in downtown Toulouse.

A few months ago, the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, announced a clear objective: to reduce the automobile footprint around the Canal du Midi by 50%.

According to the project announced at that time, vehicles will eventually circulate on a single lane, on each side of the canal, compared to two to three currently. So much space recovered which will make it possible to expand the spaces dedicated to pedestrians and bicycles, but also to plant trees. This vast plan could span more than a decade.

A new stage

The creation of this cycle path is therefore a new step in bringing this complex project to fruition. A project which was, in fact, started this summer 2024 with the experiment of removing a traffic lane at the port of l'Embouchure, one of the main entrances to Toulouse near the ring road.

“The objective is to reduce traffic flows. If this is the case, which we hope, in addition to the sustainability of this development, we will then be able to consider other developments elsewhere along the Canal du Midi,” indicates Toulouse News, François Chollet, the elected official in charge of coordinating the Grand Parc Canal project.

A first failure

The experiment was cut short. The experienced cycle path will be removed. The traffic jams went up to the ring road, which did not fail to create some dangerous situations.

Other projects

Other projects targeted for tactical development include the Saint-Sauveur port, Griffoul Dorval boulevard and Les Cales de Radoub, south-east of Toulouse. Here, 2.5 kilometers of banks will be redeveloped, via six tactical urban planning operations, between these two major sites of the Canal du Midi.

Closer to the port of l’Embouchure, it is the Minimes hopperwhich makes it possible to avoid a major intersection in Toulouse, which could be closed to traffic.

This is what the Canal plan provides for. At the start of 2023, a timetable was announced: the hopper was to be returned to pedestrians, soft modes, and possible events, in 2024 or 2025.

In May 2024, interviewed by Toulouse News on this subject, François Chollet wanted to be more cautious:

“The removal of the Minimes hopper is a project on pause. We are already waiting to see how the reduction of traffic lanes at the port of l'Embouchure will work out. If this goes well, and car traffic decreases on this section, which will be decisive, we will then be able to consider this tactical urban planning operation on the Minimes hopper site.”

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