A69 motorway opening in Tarn, France, Digi Mart USA News (Tarn, France): The opening of the A69 motorway on Friday, November 6, brings to an end a long-running dispute that captivated France for several decades, pitting supporters against opponents of the road.
The A69 is a 53-kilometer stretch of highway between Castres and Toulouse, the product of a long political and legal battle. In the Tarn department, the gap between local elected officials, who made the project a campaign issue as early as 2017, and opponents, including business owners and environmental activists who fought it by every means available, remains wide.
The motorway opened to traffic on Friday, November 6. The first drivers were able to use it from mid-morning, in thick fog.
There was no official inauguration ceremony, and the toll is €20.40 for a round trip, which makes it the most expensive and most controversial motorway in France.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on X: “Whatever everyone’s position on this file, we can be satisfied that this step has been passed and that the project is entering a new phase.” He added: “Supported by local elected officials, the A69 now enters its operating phase.”
Few highway projects have been as divisive. The idea, first proposed more than 25 years ago, drew opposition over the past four years in the name of environmental protection.
Squirrels were reportedly kept suspended in trees day and night, large demonstrations were held, and legal challenges were repeated, and opponents tried every available tactic. For them, the defeat is bitter.
Myriam Joly, a business owner in Castres who has opposed the project for more than 20 years, said: “I am heartbroken when I see everything that has been damaged, all the people who suffered, the houses that were destroyed, the gardens that were ravaged. All of it for nothing.” Thomas Braille, an activist with the National Tree Monitoring Group, said: “The A69 will remain in people’s minds for generations.
It is the symbol of what should no longer be done today, and they will never be able to shake that off.”
For supporters, the opening is a relief. During three and a half years of construction, the debate over the motorway took on national proportions.
The courts at one point sided with defenders of nature and halted the work. Tarn deputy Jean Terlier of the Ensemble pour la République party acknowledged that there was “obviously a tug-of-war.” He said: “In the end, we prevailed, and construction was not suspended.
It continued, and on the ground we had to fight against the establishment of this ZAD. So we had to stick together and show solidarity.
But if we had to do it again, yes, we would.”
Jean-Luc Alibert, mayor of Soual and a member of the Horizons party, said: “We also saw two Frances clash, two ways of seeing society.” He added: “Those like us who believe that growth and development are necessary, and those who are sometimes caricatured, perhaps unfairly, as advocates of degrowth. The A69 focused these two visions of society.” Supporters acknowledge that some aspects could have been improved, such as the road connections around the infrastructure and dialogue with opponents, but the final toll is the main source of disappointment.
The announced €20.40 round-trip fare has worried even some of the project’s staunchest supporters. Alibert said: “If we are being objective, we are in a purchasing power crisis.” He noted that mobility, particularly in rural areas, is a pressing issue, and said he and others are waiting for action in coordination with the state to find solutions.
Thomas Braille said opponents had been counting on a fare of €17. “We had called for a boycott of the motorway, but I think we won’t have to push very hard to get people to do it at this price,” he said.
For Braille, a longtime environmental activist, the broader struggle lies elsewhere. He said he understands people who feel silenced, pointing to the Pierre Fabre laboratories, which were behind the project and are also shareholders in the company operating it.
“The only fear we should have, and I say it all the time, is the wall we will hit tomorrow if we do nothing today.”
