The collective of opponents The way is free organizes until October 24 a march against the layout of the future infrastructure planned to connect Verfeil, near Toulouse, in Castres, in the Tarn.
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Dominique Rougeau leaps out of his pick-up and points to his peonie field. “Here, it’s here. The highway will go there,” launches the farmer installed since 1959 at the Domaine de Bazialgues, in Verfeil (Haute-Garonne). Highway A 69, which will stretch on fifty-three kilometers to connect Verfeil, near Toulouse, in Castres (Tarn), will cut its crops into two parts and will cause the destruction of 7.5 hectares of planting.
“There were two possible routes but it was imposed on me. It was the worst of the scenarios envisaged”, toned M. Rougeau which draws up a list of damages incurred: a drop in turnover and the Destruction of infrastructure (cold rooms and shaping workshop) from its horticultural activity. This motorway link was the local Arlesian, carried by Pierre Fabre, the leader and founder of the pharmaceutical and cosmetic group located in Castres, died in 2013, and local elected officials, with the promise of time to reach the regional metropolis , and that of an economic development of the Castres basin. Residents hear about it for twenty-five years.
In 2009, following a public debate, the principle of the completion of the two -lane putting along the national road and the highway concession was adopted. Declared of public utility in 2018, the project was classified national priority in the law of mobility orientation the following year. In 2022, the project took a new step: the concession contract between the State and the ATOSCA company was approved by a decree published on April 22. A second public inquiry is planned in mid-November. Environmental authorization could be issued in January 2023, for a commissioning of the expected highway in the second half of 2025.
Faced with these deadlines, the protesters of the A69, grouped within the collective La Voie is free (LVL), organize, until October 24, a “great march against the A69” on the layout of the future highway. “This action will be decisive in our struggle,” warns Aline Guerin, elected opposition (various left) in Castres and spokesperson for LVL. “We will have six months to organize ourselves. Because this project is emblematic of the world that we no longer want, that of the whole car.”
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