“In 2025, Clemenceau will not be cycleable”, denounces Vélocité Montpellier

Claire Jourdan and Nicolas Le Moigne, from the Vélocité association, this Monday, on avenue Clemenceau. ML – GR

The association notes on plans of the Metropolis that cyclists will have to travel on tram tracks or on sidewalks, "which will give rise to accidents and conflicts with pedestrians".

In the future network of cycle paths in Montpellier, avenue Clemenceau will constitute a major axis, between the south-west of the urban area, the city center and the tunnel under the Comedy.

"We counted between 2,500 and 3,500 bikes per day, while we are in the works period", explains Claire Jourdan, from Vélocité. "This will obviously increase later."

If a mixed path is planned between the May 8, 1945 roundabout and Clemenceau Park, it disappears over the 240 meters that lead to Saint-Denis, where the avenue is narrower.

"According to the plans for tram line 5, cyclists will have to travel on the tram platform or on the sidewalks, which will cause accidents and conflicts with pedestrians".

"There are two solutions"

"We had discussions with the Metropolis on this subject, during the congress of the Federation of Bicycle Users (Fub) in Montpellier, in July 2021", recalls Nicolas Le Moigne, president of Vélocité.

"There are solutions, however. One is to move to a single tram track over these 240 meters, like in Strasbourg or Amsterdam. The other is to take the bikes via another route. But no solution has really been studied by the Metropolis.

The association recalls that in the scale of priorities, cycling precedes public transport. "This development is all the more important as it will remain for several decades."

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