Vinci is commissioning the Strasbourg West Bypass (A355)

The A355 was inaugurated in Ittenheim on December 11, 2021 by Mr. Jean Castex, Prime Minister, and Pierre Coppey, Chairman of VINCI Autoroutes and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of VINCI, in the presence of Xavier Huillard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VINCI and of many elected representatives of the territory.

VINCI Autoroutes, the project owner, has financed it for an amount of 561 million euros, and will operate, service and maintain the new motorway under a concession contract for a period of 54 years.

This commissioning marks the culmination of a project launched in October 2018, after three years of studies and preparatory work, which will have mobilized 6 people and more than 000 companies, a third of which are Alsatian. The design and construction were entrusted to a consortium made up of VINCI Construction (Dodin Campenon Bernard, agent, VINCI Construction Terrassement, VINCI Construction France, Eurovia), VINCI Energies (Cegelec Mobility) and Ingerop Conseil & Ingénierie.

By relieving the former A35 urban motorway of its significant transit traffic, the A355 will streamline traffic within the Strasbourg Eurometropolis and its territory - with 10 million hours saved each year - and will facilitate the development of shared and carbon-free mobility, thus contributing to the reduction of atmospheric and noise pollution, and to the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants.

By design, construction and mode of operation, the A355 constitutes an achievement without precedent in France among road transport infrastructures, in terms of ecological transparency and environmental integration. 1 hectares of environmental compensation were thus implemented - more than 315 times the surface area of ​​the final right-of-way of the motorway - and 4,5 wildlife crossings were built, or on average one structure every 130 meters - a density 200 times higher than other motorway networks in France.

At the same time, a rally of opponents to this highway was held near another portion, bringing together "a hundred" people according to the organizers, including several mayors of the surrounding municipalities.

The environmentalist mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, boycotted, like other metropolitan elected officials, the inauguration ceremony, describing the project as "useless" and "ecological disaster", in statements to the daily Latest News from Alsace .

In July, the Strasbourg administrative court, seized by the Alsace Nature association, had recognized "inadequacies" in the site authorization application file, in particular on the effects of the A355 "on human health", the "air quality" or the impact "on soils and subsoils".

The judge had imposed the suspension of the commissioning, but the State had appealed, and the Court of Appeal had annulled this suspension, without ruling on the shortcomings.