A69 motorway: the government will request the resumption of the site, pending the call

The government will request a suspension to enable the A69 site to resume, pending the appeal procedure, the Minister of Transport announced this Friday.

The call “will be filed in the coming days, we work on a dissertation to appeal, and especially to request a suspended sentence,” said Philippe Tabarot on Sud Radio, judging that the stopping of the site caused a “concrete and immediate disaster on an economic level”.

“We are determined that the site is carried out well,” he insisted. Because for him, the project “essential to open up the Tarn”, and “it is the credibility of the state that is played out”. In the eyes of the Minister responsible for Transport, if the court’s decision is confirmed on appeal, “this is the end of major projects”.

Philippe Tabarot has also announced to support the demonstration in favor of this highway, which will take place in Castres (Tarn) this Saturday. “It is an ubiquitous situation,” he still tackled.

The call, a first step?

On Thursday, the Toulouse administrative court illegal, the A69 site, which was in the wake, was stopped. An unprecedented decision. To build the 53 km of highway between Toulouse and Castres, the Atosca project leader had asked – and obtained in March 2023 – a derogation in order to be able to undermine “157 specimens of protected animal species”, detailed the court.

To be able to justify these attacks, “the project must respond to an imperative reason for major public interest” (RIIPM), specifies the decision. However, “in view of the very limited profits that these projects will have for the territory and its inhabitants, it is not possible to derogate from the rules for protecting the environment and protected species”.

In the process, the state had announced its intention to appeal. And even if this decision is confirmed, it could then be challenged before the Council of State.