It is the first time that a road infrastructure of this scale has been rebuilt in France by justice. The Toulouse administrative court on Thursday, February 27, canceled the prefectural decree authorizing the site of the A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway, we learned from the lawyers of opponents and the concessionaire, who were notified the decision.
“The decree of March 1, 2023 by which the prefects of Haute-Garonne and Tarn issued an authorization to the ATOSCA company with a view to carrying out the work of the highway link between Verfeil and Castres, called A69” is “canceled”, according to the notification of the court to the parties consulted by AFP.
The state will appeal the suspension
The state will call on the suspension of the site, the Ministry of Transport announced in the process. The situation resulting from this decision is “Ubuesque: an advanced two -thirds project is arrested overnight,” said Minister Philippe Tabarot in a statement.
For its part, the collective of opponents of the A69 The way is free (Lvel) immediately praised “a historical decision which brings a final stroke to a useless, destructive and irresponsible project, which we have denounced with force for several years. It is a big day for environmental law.” The judgment of the court “denounces the irresponsibility of the State and the concessionaire for having initiated the work without waiting. This passage in force, doped at the institutional denial, has just been stopped net”, rejoiced Lvel.
For its promoters, this 53 -kilometer axis aims above all to open up “the living area” in the south of the Tarn, which “needs to connect to the equipment of the regional capital” Toulouse, like the airport or the hospitals, underlined Yasser Abdoulhoussen, project director, responsible for piloting the A69 at the Tarn prefecture.
Pleading for the continuation of the site, Atosca, manufacturer and future concessionaire of the motorway, said before the court decision to have “made more than 300 million euros, or 65 % of the total site budget”. The site stops would be expensive, argue the state and Atosca. It would be necessary to stabilize works in progress, protect those already built, monitor stored equipment or even install fences around the open pools and ditches. This site security, added to the application of the contract suspension clauses, would cost several million euros, they add.