Traveling in the Rhône on Monday, Transport Minister Clément Beaune confirmed that studies concerning the project to widen the A46 motorway south of Lyon would be suspended for a year. The time to carry out a new consultation on mobility and transport in this saturated sector.
However, the State has never hidden its intention to pass the A46 to two times three lanes between the municipalities of Saint-Priest and Ternay, in order to complete the great southern bypass of Lyon. Despite the very strong opposition of local elected officials and the metropolis of Lyon – which voted against the project in September 2021 – it had approved the continuation of the studies following an initial public consultation, during which the project had been widely critical. A passage in force strongly decried.
“The widening of the A46 will not solve the problems of traffic jams or pollution”
“This consultation took place with an unacceptable lack of transparency and objectivity. The meager files presented by the contracting authorities – the State and ASF-Vinci – only contained a solution already tied up beforehand with the sole objective of having it accepted by the citizens “, then annoyed the Fracture collective, denouncing the absence of alternative proposals.
Arguments, opponents abound. “The widening of the A46 will solve neither the problems of traffic jams nor the pollution suffered by the inhabitants”, estimates Jean-Luc Fugit, deputy for the 11th district of the Rhône who pleads for the realization of the railway bypass of the agglomeration. lyonnaise.
“Instead of the promised benefit of fluidity, the widening generated a massive addition of traffic on the A46”, predicts the Fracture collective. “It must be understood that the many vehicles in transit on the M6/M7 currently authorized to cross the heart of Lyon would then be required to no longer circulate in the center of Lyon but to take the A46-Sud, under penalty of fine or toll”, he concludes.