• "Vehicles arriving from the south of the ring road, probably at Langon, must be able to have a link to the north-east of Aquitaine," said Alain Anziani, president of Bordeaux Métropole.
  • The mayor of Libourne Philippe Buisson recalls that he is also in favor of the metropolitan RER, "but that it does not allow to go everywhere. "
  • Philippe Buisson adds that he represents several medium-sized cities located about 200 km from Bordeaux, which hope to open up the territory thanks to these road blocks.

It is neither "a rearguard action" nor "a timeless project", they insist. Alain Anziani, PS mayor of Mérignac and president of Bordeaux Métropole, and Philippe Buisson, PS mayor of Libourne and president of Cali (Libournais Agglomeration Community) launched this Tuesday an "appeal to the State" to relaunch "as soon as possible" studies in favor of a road bypass of Bordeaux.

The word "bypass", synonymous with sea serpent in Bordeaux as it has been years that the subject resurfaces regularly, has never been pronounced by the two elected officials. "Call it what you want," says Philippe Buisson, "but you need a diversion, which can be very loose, around Bordeaux from the south and going east." "Vehicles arriving from the south of the ring road, probably at Langon, must be able to have a link to the north-east of Aquitaine," confirms Alain Anziani. However, "we do not come with a specific request on this or that bar, insists Philippe Buisson, we come to relaunch a debate in a peaceful and pragmatic way, because the status quo is untenable. "

"Demobility is not a prospect"

For the mayor of Libourne, who recalled that Bordeaux has climbed this year to second place among the most congested cities in France, "there is a form of aberration in the fact that any vehicle coming from southern Europe and heading north, inevitably ends up on the ring road. " And this problem "can only get worse," says Philippe Buisson, "demobility" is not a prospect. This will never be true, because mobility is freedom. »

Anticipating criticism, especially from their green allies in the metropolis who do not want to hear about road bypass, the two socialist elected officials warn: "we are not morons who know nothing about it, balances Alain Anziani, we know very well the disruptions caused by vehicles. " "We are not backwards who do not understand their time, and who would think that there is only the truck as a solution," continues Philippe Buisson. And when Alain Anziani pulls down his map of the mobility scheme, which must increase the share of cars in the metropolis from 50 to 33%, Philippe Buisson recalls that "the first French line of the metropolitan RER was Libourne-Arcachon. We are for the metropolitan RER, but even with the metropolitan RER, we cannot go everywhere. »

"The theory of vehicle evaporation? A chimera »

Green allies who took it for their rank in passing. The theory of traffic evaporation, supported by ecologists at Bordeaux City Hall? "A chimera," sweeps Alain Anziani. The argument put forward by the EELV mayor of Bègles, Clément Rossignol-Puech, who would like that the more roads are created, the more traffic increases? "I tend to say that it's rather the opposite: we make roads because there are vehicles," says the president of the metropolis.

"It's always easy when you are elected from a territory that is served in terms of infrastructure, to consider that others do not have to be," adds Philippe Buisson. If Bègles did not have the François-Mitterrand bridge, it would be missing. And if there weren't one of the largest commercial areas of Gironde [Rives d'Arcins] in Bègles, there would be fewer people on the ring road. »

"An element of drying up the territory"

To the ecologists of the metropolis, Philippe Buisson also opposed the elected representatives of the territories, specifying that he represented a collective of medium-sized cities located about 200 km from the agglomeration of Bordeaux, such as Angoulême, Bergerac, Périgueux, Agen, etc. "I brought them together in Libourne a few weeks ago, and they all share this observation that Bordeaux thrombosis is an element of drying up of the territory," he says. It is in the name of opening up the territory, in favor of these bars that would irrigate the interior territories from the east of the metropolis, that we want this file to be updated. »



As for the arguments on road pollution, Phillippe Buisson is convinced that "the truck driver can be virtuous." "I take the bet that the day when these famous bars will exist and lighten the Bordeaux thrombosis, in fifteen-twenty years, the truck will be clean. " The elected officials, who recall that "the State has accepted [road projects] in Rouen and Strasbourg" hope that the project can be included in the next State-Region plan contract.

  • New Aquitaine
  • Bordeaux
  • Gironde
  • Aquitaine
  • Ring road
  • Circulation
  • Traffic congestion