The work of the A69 motorway between Castres and Toulouse, which is highly contested on the ground, is progressing “according to the planned schedule”, indicated Monday evening Pierre-André Durand, the prefect of Occitanie. “It is a project whose completion is very significantly advanced (…) There is no delay, no particular surprise,” specified the State representative, at the end of the annual meeting of the committee of monitoring of State commitments on the A69. “Over the 53 km of the operation, we have around 40 construction sites which have started, half of the earthworks (…) half of the engineering structures (…), so we are truly at around 40% of the budget that was committed to this operation,” explained Martial Gerlinger, general manager of Atoscathe highway concessionaire.
The groups of opponents invited to this stage left prematurely, denouncing the “illegitimate eviction” of the meeting of the National Tree Protection Group (GNSA) of Thomas Brail, and Attac.
The pitfall of bitumen power plants
Concerning the “hot bituminous mix” plants which will produce the approximately 500,000 tonnes of coating for the A69, Martial Gerlinger believes that there are “many very erroneous elements circulating”, the prefect judging for his part that some “feed undocumented fears” about the pollution they would generate.
These “tar factories” as opponents call them, crystallize anger in the villages concerned along the route. Several local citizen groups believe that the fumes from these power plants are dangerous for human health and the environment. On December 9, hundreds of people demonstrated again in Tarn against the A69 and the two future power stations.
The Tarn prefecture is organizing an information meeting on these power plants on Thursday evening; in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the village which will be the closest to one of them.
The highway is scheduled to be put into service by the end of 2025.