Traffic on the ring road, and in particular the flow of heavy goods vehicles observed at certain times of the day, this is the subject that has fueled the debates since the start of the school year in Bordeaux (Gironde). And this will be one of the priority files for the year 2022.
So much so that Bordeaux Métropole decided to create in October, on the proposal of the elected LREM Thomas Cazenave, a working group exclusively devoted to this subject. “45 km loop made up of 27 interchanges, the bypass has a traffic that varies between 80,000 and 150,000 vehicles / day, depending on the hours and sectors, and which has increased by 1% every year for a decade,” recalls the community in a statement.
“Faced with the state of saturation of the bypass, we are faced with a capital, complex and unavoidable issue for the metropolis, which requires taking rapid and effective measures”, promises the president of Bordeaux Métropole, Alain Anziani. A first working meeting should take place in January.
One in two trucks in transit
Divisional commander of the New Aquitaine motorway CRS, Frédéric Cayla is in charge of the perimeter of the bypass. It is on the front line in the face of this congestion phenomenon, which it has seen “rise” since the last deconfinement “and the resumption of economic activity, with a sharp increase in the number of heavy goods vehicles on the bypass, and the portions motorway A10, A62 and A63 ”he assures.
For the year 2020, “we recorded 18,000 heavy goods vehicles per day on the Bordeaux ring road,” he said, relying on figures from the Dira (Interdepartmental Directorate of Atlantic Roads). “This attendance should be on the rise for the year 2021” anticipates the commander of the highway CRS.
Heavy goods vehicles, most often in transit between the Benelux and Spain, are mainly concentrated on the North / South route (A10-RN10 / A63) via the East and South bypass. “On the East bypass, analyzes the metropolis, one in two trucks is in transit, unrelated to the economic activity of the city, which represents a third of road traffic on the East bypass. “
Deadly accident
This increase saw a phenomenon which already existed to increase: the parking of these heavy goods vehicles on emergency lanes, during their break times, due to lack of space in conventional, saturated areas.
“The phenomenon is quite diffuse, but we encounter it mainly when approaching service station rest areas”, analyzes Frédéric Cayla, who says he has made it his “hobbyhorse”, especially since a fatal accident at the end. from last summer. That morning, a pickup truck violently crashed into one of these illegally parked trucks. The accident had left one dead.
“This would not have happened if the truck had not been parked where it had nothing to do, deplores the commander of the highway CRS. La Dira has since carried out work to prevent any parking at this location. More generally, I now ask all my motorway CRS agents to inspect the bypass every morning, and to ticket these vehicles when they see illegal parking. “
Nearly 900 tickets for dangerous or inconvenient parking
The fine can range from 35 euros to 135 euros and three points withdrawn from the driving license, depending on the title of the offense. “Since the start of the year, we have had more than 500 tickets for dangerous parking, and 387 tickets for inconvenient parking on an emergency lane, which makes a total of 892 tickets, or 74 tickets per month”. Frédéric Cayla.
“But more than the verbalization, I want the heavy goods vehicle to move, which is very difficult to make the driver understand when he is generally on his compulsory break time, because he will then have to explain in case of control the reasons for which he had to move his truck. “
“We are only treating the symptoms”
The commander of the highway CRS also deplores “a lot of material accidents between 6 am and 9 am, with in particular heavy goods vehicles which do not respect the safety distances. We can add to this the use of the telephone, or the non-respect of the prohibition to overtake, in particular in the descent of Bouliac… We carry out regular checks, but it is not the highway CRS which will be able to solve all the problems, we are only treating the symptoms, but we must tackle the cause, and reduce the number of heavy goods vehicles entering on the sections of motorways in the city. “
For Frédéric Cayla, “the solutions to be implemented are political, such as the establishment of piggyback [transport des marchandises par le train], as well as the establishment of traffic time slots for heavy goods vehicles. To do this, we need to create more parking areas reserved for trucks, which would allow them to be retained during peak hours, and which would have the effect of making the bypass road more fluid. “
Differentiated toll according to the transit times of the trucks?
Bordeaux Métrople evokes for its part “the possibility of a differentiated toll according to the transit times of the trucks. “The other areas of work on the table are to tackle the” intersection tracks between interchanges 16 and 18, improvement of the A10 / ring road / RN89 node, as well as the Hourcade interchange in connection with the economic development of the site. The question of the great bypass of Bordeaux, in the boxes for more than twenty years, is not yet part of the projects envisaged by the metropolis.
However, the community recalls that the solutions will have to be implemented with the State, the infrastructure manager.