Is the “Boulevard Intercommunal du Parisis” (“Bip”) an ecocidal road project, which will endanger the health of thousands of children and destroy around a hundred hectares, or on the contrary a useful project, which will allow by decongesting the Val d’Oise, reducing pollution and above all making people’s lives easier? These are in substance the positions of the anti and pro Bip, a “twice two lanes” the size of a motorway between the A1 and the A15, the construction project of which was relaunched at the end of last year by the department of Val-d’Oise.
The expression “sea serpent” seems too weak to describe the “Bip”, the first route of which dates from the 1930s. Since that date, several parts of this fast road have been built, but the last section was canceled in justice and then referred to the Court of Appeal, giving some respite to his opponents. The Val-d’Oise department relaunched the controversy by voting at the end of October for a study credit of 7 million euros, and the Ile-de-France region lent its support to the eastern section of 5.5 km between Groslay and Bonneuil-en-France, by including it in June in its master plan (Sdrif-e).
“No door is closed”
“No study demonstrates the usefulness of this project,” criticize several associations, who are organizing a march on October 7 to demand its abandonment. According to these associations, including France Nature Environnement Ile-de-France and the Vivre sans BIP collective, “around a hundred hectares of natural and agricultural spaces” will be destroyed because of this project, which threatens the health “of 10,000 children of which around forty educational establishments are located along the route. “This exceptional green lung in Ile-de-France – preserved from urbanization thanks to the existence of this project – must be protected as an essential island of freshness for residents,” conclude the associations.
According to Audrey Boehly, from the Vivre sans Bip collective, 5,000 students from Sarcelles are 50 or 100 m from the road, the town being the one with the most affected students. Another example, the Glaisières primary school in Groslay would be less than 100 m away. According to the Ministry of Health, children are most impacted by air pollution, with negative impacts along the busiest roads, such as a higher risk of leukemia. Children who live less than 100 m from major roads are also three times more likely to develop asthma, according to a study by Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Transport noise is also associated with learning and academic performance problems at school, while residents who live in the Bip route area are already located in a noise zone, close to the airport. from Roissy..
Opposite, the Ile-de-France region indicates that it only defends the eastern part of the section, where local opposition is the “least strong”, estimates Jean-Philippe Dugoin-Clément, vice-president of the Ile-de-France Regional Council. France. Who takes refuge behind the opinion of the Ile-de-France Departmental Council: “The region’s option is to follow Val-d’Oise because it is manager. However, the department tells us that there is congestion which causes pollution, confides Jean-Philippe Dugoin-Clément. Now there is a public inquiry, and the reality is that no door is closed. »
Risks of asthma and leukemia
The department has been tight-lipped in responding to the criticism. After multiple emails and phone calls, he ended up giving us these few meager lines, which seem to indicate a change of heart: “The Department has started new discussions with the municipalities and urban areas affected by the project in order to take all the measurement of the current needs of the territory »
“They take up their pilgrim’s staff again to try to convince, but even if they amend the project by planting trees, it remains a two-way street, with enormous damage,” denounces Audrey Boehly. Air pollution is responsible for one in ten deaths in Ile-de-France.