Favorable opinion on the new Beynac bypass project in Dordogne

The public inquiry commission gave the green light on Tuesday, September 10, to the new road bypass project for the village of Beynac in Dordogne, a decades-old issue on which the prefecture will have to decide again within two months.

The previous version of the Departmental Council had been rejected, in 2019 and then 2022, by the administrative courts which have since ordered the community to pay nearly two million euros in fines, for failing to demolish the construction site started in 2018.

The bypass road around this village of 500 inhabitants, ranked among the most beautiful in France with its medieval castle perched on a cliff overlooking a bend in the Dordogne, has been inflaming local minds since the 1990s. Its supporters say they want to relieve congestion and make the town safer; opponents say they are defending the site and the environment.

On two occasions, the administrative courts have ruled that, since they did not meet an "overriding reason of major public interest", the construction site could not deviate from the ban on harming protected species in a site classified as Natura 2000 and a "biosphere reserve".

The "multimodal loop for access to both banks" of the Dordogne still involves the construction of two bridges over the river. Its detractors thus oppose it with "the authority of res judicata" but the commission of inquiry dismisses this argument, considering that this project "differs completely" from the one rejected and is indeed of "major public interest".

Recalling that three million tourists visit the Dordogne each year and that the area concerned is particularly busy, she stresses that "the conditions of service and accessibility of these sites" pose security problems and do not respond "to the growing demand for 'slow tourism'".

The new version includes the creation of a lane dedicated to soft mobility and one-way traffic in summer on the departmental road which crosses Beynac.

The commission's favourable opinion is accompanied by four recommendations, including that of reusing infrastructure already built: the bridge piers sunk into the river during the first construction site, the destruction of which has been demanded by the administrative courts for two years.

The Dordogne prefecture has until November 9 to make a decision.