Slowdown in sight for the redevelopment plan for the Orléans (Loiret) malls! During the last metropolitan council, on Thursday September 26, 2024, the mayor, Serge Grouard, announced that this heavy program would be postponed, to allow the city to continue to invest elsewhere, in a context of budgetary tension.
Announced in 2022, this project, costed at 76 million euros, aims to modify traffic in order to calm traffic on these busy boulevards which surround the city center, to the point that they sometimes take on the appearance of urban highway with more than 18,000 vehicles per day.
According to the initial schedule, it should have started soon. Elected officials had also planned substantial budgetary authorizations for the next two years: 21 million in 2025 and 23 million in 2026. But the ambitions were largely revised downwards, with lines ultimately reduced to 3 million for the next year and 11 million the following year. Work will then not start before 2026, at the earliest.
Diminishing ambitions
Initially, the Jaurès hopper should be removed and converted into a 300-space car park which will accommodate, in particular, the cars of students and teachers from the faculty of law and economics which will move nearby, to the former hospital. .
Only then will the metropolis tackle the overhaul of the surroundings of the Place d’Arc shopping center and its access points. Removal of the hopper and the pedestrian bridge, disappearance of the bus center, reorganization of car traffic, relocation of the tram line… The projects in sight are numerous and promise to be complex, not to mention the financial aspect of the project , and the participation of Carrefour-Carmila, which has lowered its ambitions since it abandons the construction of housing on the roof of the shopping center.