"A denial of democracy": in Strasbourg, a highway not authorized ... but already in service

At the heart of this administrative oddity, there is a 24 kilometer section of motorway: the A355, which bypasses Strasbourg from the west, a sort of derivation from the A35 which already crosses the Alsatian capital from north to south.

According to Vinci, this is the "largest motorway project of recent years in France".

Considered as early as 1973, the project fueled fierce protest for decades. Opponents saw it as a new sacrifice of arable land and wetlands, contesting the idea that this bypass could relieve congestion on the A35, saturated with the commuter journeys of workers joining the agglomeration daily.

Despite the numerous demonstrations, and despite the unfavorable opinions issued by the environmental damage control authorities (in particular the Environmental Authority - AE), the State, through the Bas-Rhin prefecture, granted in 2018 to Arcos, a subsidiary of the Vinci group, the authorization to build this section of motorway.

The authorization was immediately challenged in court by the Alsace Nature association. Three years later, in July 2021, the courts partially ruled in favor of the association, noting that the authorization file was marred by "shortcomings", concerning the impact of the motorway on health, pollution or the evolution of car traffic - all aspects that are supposed to justify the construction of the bypass.

"The judge relied on arguments which appeared in the first opinion of the Environmental Authority", underlines Pierre Ledenvic, the president of the AE. "It is regrettable that these arguments were not taken into account upstream by the project owner and by the authority which granted the authorization", he laments.

"Best soils in France"

Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings, the courts did not cancel the authorization: it simply required Arcos to complete its file so that the prefecture could possibly issue an additional authorization order.

But if the authorization procedure had to start again at the beginning, the construction site continued and the brand new motorway was inaugurated on December 11 by Jean Castex who praised its "ecological and environmental benefits".

While the first vehicles took the new highway, which nibbled 450 hectares classified "among the best soils in France" for their agronomic quality, Arcos reviewed its file. She submitted it, as required by procedure, to the Environmental Authority... who found the same shortcomings.

"Indeed, a number of recommendations that we made in 2018 have not been taken into consideration", regrets to AFP Nathalie Bertrand, author of the second opinion issued by the AE.

The other authorities consulted have also given unfavorable opinions on the A355 and the procedure is following its course with the holding of a second public inquiry after that of 2018: until April 16, the inhabitants are once again invited to give their opinion on the relevance of what remains presented as a "project". Although it's already finished...

"Clearly we had a passage in force and the fact of returning in front of the population, it is almost provocation", estimates the ecological mayor of Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian, who evokes a "denial of democracy".

"We need to restore trust with the authorities, the opinions that are given must really weigh on the decisions taken", claims the elected official. “Asking citizens about a project that has already been done is deleterious, it discredits the procedures”.

Misleading signage

Asked, the prefecture of Bas-Rhin does not specify how it intends to take into account all these new opinions. If the issue of a new regularization order is not in doubt, the prefect can impose certain measures on the Arcos company depending on the observations made.

In the meantime, several thousand motorists take this highway willy-nilly every day, complaining of misleading signage, which encourages people to use the toll section unnecessarily, and high prices at peak times.

The Arcos company refuses to transmit any figures to the press, but it had to respond to the AE which evokes a traffic of "7.000 to 8.000 vehicles per day".

The historic route, free, remains "used by more than 170.000 vehicles per day on its busiest parts", recalls the AE.

All the players nevertheless recognize that the bypass receives part of the traffic from heavy goods vehicles. They are now prohibited from crossing the city, except to load or deliver: the number of trucks on the A35 has decreased by almost a third, or around 3.000 per day, according to figures from Sirac (service of information and automatic traffic control).

However, many heavy goods vehicles in transit are still reluctant to take the paying bypass: according to the motorway CRS, 70% of the trucks checked on the historic route are in violation.