Opponents of the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres are keeping up the pressure. The collective “the way is free” called this Saturday for a new action on the site of the archaeological excavations in Soual. 80 people took part.
This Saturday is a new day of action for opponents of the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres. A few hundred people demonstrated on the site of the archaeological excavations in Soual in the Tarn.
Dressed in black and carrying white crosses, several dozen people demonstrated in the middle of the archaeological excavations carried out on the Soual site. “We wanted to symbolize the mourning of these 400 hectares of land sacrificed to build a highway that is not necessary”explains Aline Guérin of the collective “The way is free”.
The excavation site looks like a huge cemetery. Image used by the members of the collective to convey their point of view to the general public.
These holes, which look like tombs, are in fact trenches made as part of the preventive excavations preceding the start of construction of the future motorway between Castres(Tarn) and Toulouse (Upper Garonne).
As explained by theInrap on his website: “The objective is to check whether the land conceals traces of ancient human occupations likely to be destroyed.“
Surveys are then carried out on 5 to 10% of the land surface concerned by the project. The methodology used makes it possible to detect, characterize, circumscribe and date any archaeological remains present in the subsoil.
As required by European legislation, environmental authority produced a report on the environmental impact assessments of this future highway. His opinion, given on October 6, 2022, was not kind to the project leaders:
“The impact study still has many shortcomings with regard to health and environmental impacts” considers the report, which also notes a gap between the initial project and today’s data. “VShe road project, initiated several decades ago, appears anachronistic in view of the current challenges and ambitions of sobriety, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, stopping erosion biodiversity and the artificialization of the territory and the evolution of mobility practices and their links with regional planning.”
The environmental authority recommends reviewing and updating all data.
Already on September 12, theNational Council for the Protection of Nature had issued an unfavorable opinion on this motorway project.
For its part, the monitoring committee is staying the course and the objective of starting work in early 2023 is maintained. The A69 motorway is an operation classified as a national priority by the government. Its commissioning is scheduled for 2025.
the ball is now in the Prefect’s court. It is he who, in the last resort, must give his approval to the project.
The collective “the way is free” does not have too many illusions. But he has not exhausted his legal remedies.
A big march against the highway is already planned for the end of October.
We wish to give thanks to the writer of this short article for this outstanding material
