the essential
Between the extension of traffic lanes dedicated to buses and the development of the network of cycle paths in the name of an active ecology, cars have less and less space in Toulouse, but they are still numerous. The result is suffocated traffic and fine particle pollution. A paradox that many annoyed citizens note.
It’s the snake that bites its own tail. How can we develop what we now call gentle modes of travel and reduce the place of the car in the city when at the same time the multiplication of lanes dedicated to buses and the extension of the network of cycle paths contribute to the suffocation of traffic on the Toulouse boulevards or the banks of the canal? The exercise is certainly a matter of squaring the circle and the experiments carried out by the Toulouse municipality at Ponts-Jumeaux or Minimes, in recent weeks, have had difficulty convincing motorists of the virtues of urban ecology, whereas for two days fine particle pollution has reared its ugly head again in the urban area with an air quality alert deemed poor by the Atmo Occitanie agency. “I’m used to riding my bike, but I also take my car and last week, it took me an hour to go 500 meters on Boulevard Lascrosses,” complains Lucien, a retiree, who points out the paradoxes of the current situation I don’t know if there is an ulterior motive before the municipal elections to please the ecologists, he continues, but it seems to me that we are looking at the problem the other way around. bottlenecks, we could tackle the fluidification of automobile flows as other large metropolises are doing.
Nothing is simple…
And to mention the famous “Gertrude” system (real-time electronic regulation management for town planning, travel and the environment) used in around thirty French cities including Bordeaux and Montpellier and even in Beijing, Lisbon, Le Cairo or Algiers… “With this process, the red lights are sequenced and if the speed is respected, they turn green over long sections as the car passes. This smooths the traffic”. In Toulouse, the idea is only in the pipeline, as Maxime Boyer, the elected official responsible for travel, recently confirmed to us. “We plan to test these green zones on major avenues as is done in Barcelona. But, he warns, this will only be possible on roads where there are no pedestrian lights on demand.” In short, the matter is not simple. And the cohabitation between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists continues to raise eyebrows. In the meantime, Lucien is far from being the only one to be annoyed by the consequences of this so-called “tactical” urban planning to make all modes of transport coexist, which ends up producing effects contrary to the desired benefits. In the Embouchure sector at the exit of the ring road, the town hall had to backtrack, but it is now on the banks of the Canal du Midi in the vicinity of Matabiau station that the problems are resurfacing. The fault lies with a cycle path which, according to many users, could very well be satisfied with the current towpath… So, any solutions?
