In Talence, Villenave d’Ornon, in Bouscat, the green municipality of Bordeaux is criticized for wanting to “barricade” itself. To create road improvements which would henceforth prevent entry into the city, and would transfer automobile traffic to their municipalities. The latest example to date, the Toulouse road development project, a major traffic axis in the agglomeration, and on which the city of Bordeaux has requested that the possibility of a one-way switch be studied. 20 minutes met Didier Jeanjean, deputy mayor in charge of peaceful neighborhoods and nature in the city, who explains these burning issues.
The city of Bordeaux is the subject of a salvo of criticism, in particular from the mayors of Talence and Villenave-d’Ornon, concerning the wish to study the possibility of putting the road to Toulouse in one direction. What do you answer them?
On the road to Toulouse, three redevelopment scenarios are subject to consultation, and the city of Bordeaux, like the other municipalities concerned, issued an opinion, favoring the scenario which gives pride of place to bicycles and buses, but specifying that we would like it to be mutable in a one-way scenario. In case. We are only asking to study the possibility of a mutability of this axis, with the sole aim of anticipating, if ever in ten years there should be less automobile traffic. That’s all. We are on a project that will be implemented over the period 2025-2027, what will happen between now and then in terms of traffic? And I remind you that in the end, it is the metropolis that will make a choice on this project.
Overall, since the start of the school year, you have suffered a lot of criticism, concerning one-way streets, or the creation of separate lanes for buses and bicycles …
There are also people who are very satisfied with that, and we do not say it. For example, I have a petition on the course of the Somme from more than 2,000 residents who ask me to go even further on the cycle paths. And on rue de Tivoli, a lot of people come to see me to ask me not to go back on our decisions.
We reproach you all the same for a lack of consultation …
All the projects that are implemented are subject to consultation, with public meetings. Cours de la Somme, we had six months of consultation, with all users, not just residents, this is unprecedented. Same thing on rue de Tivoli. I understand that we are waving red rags, but in reality it is not true.
In the extra-boulevards towns, such as in Bouscat or Talence, we are assured of recovering additional automobile traffic, because of these improvements, in particular those carried out on the boulevards where there is only one lane for cars. Did you not anticipate it?
There is an increase in traffic in certain municipalities such as Le Bouscat, but it is not motorists looking for an alternative route to the boulevards, it is people who leave from Bordeaux north and go west: Caudéran, Eysines … And, we had forgotten it a bit, but we returned to pre-Covid traffic levels, knowing that Bordeaux was already the third most congested city in France before the crisis.
So there is no problem with the arrangements on the boulevards?
We have just carried out counts on the boulevards, road traffic fell by 19% between 2019 and 2021. This is unprecedented. We also analyzed what was happening on the 500 meters intra and extra-boulevards, to see if motorists took alternative routes. In Bordeaux we are at -2% of traffic, and on the extra-boulevard we are at -13%. So, we are witnessing an evaporation of traffic, that is to say that there is a modal shift towards the bus, in particular Liane 9, and towards cycling with a 50% increase in cyclists on the boulevards. In October, we recorded a 30% increase in bicycle traffic throughout Bordeaux, which is unprecedented.
This concept of evaporating traffic is difficult to pass, especially with motorists stuck in traffic …
And yet it is true. The motorist sometimes has the impression that the lane is empty, but he is wrong: between people in buses and cyclists, there are as many people passing there as in the line of cars. But this is less visible, because ten bicycles take up much less space than ten cars. On the other hand, it is true that the traffic congestion on the boulevards is a little more important than before, of the order of 5 to 10%. This is normal since there is only one traffic lane, so 50% less space. But in the first year alone we are already registering 19% less traffic, imagine what will happen in two or three years. And all this generates much less pollution on the boulevards.
Bordeaux is not in the process of “barricading itself” then, as some mayors reproach you?
Not only do we not barricade ourselves but we radiate, we attract. All this opens Bordeaux. Our policy is not to work against the car, but on motorists who have a choice. In Bordeaux, more than 50% of motorists make journeys of less than 4 km. Among them, many can take a different mode of transport. On the other hand, some do not have a choice, such as professionals, but if we manage to remove this superfluous traffic, those who have no choice will be able to circulate better.