A dense urban environment.
The project owes much of its technical complexity to its history. The rights-of-way date back to 1933, but it wasn’t before 1960 that work actually began, with haphazard progress up until 2011. At the outset, some sections were in service, while other parts, primarily certain bridges and civil engineering structures, were only partly completed.
As a result, we had to build the existing infrastructure into our calculations while integrating the new infrastructure within an urban environment which had evolved and become much more dense over the years.
Relieving the existing network for smoother traffic
Due to its density and the sheer weight of traffic on its roads every day, the Marseille city region is highly affected by road congestion.
The purpose of this new bypass, made up of two sections: the east (5.5 km) and the north (4.1 km), is to provide a smoother link between two motorways entering the city: the A7 (heading north to Lyon and via the A51 to Aix-en-Provence) and A50 (eastbound to Toulon) and thus alleviate congestion along Marseille’s main thoroughfares.
Fostering project acceptability
To help make the project as acceptable as possible to neighbours and residents during the works phase, Egis and its SRL2 partners invented a range of initiatives to create bonds with the people impacted.
We set up an SRL2 project centre on the edge of the worksite, where we welcomed the general public and explained what the project was about and how it would be run. We held meetings with stakeholders to answer local residents’ specific questions. We fielded their requests and wherever possible, took action to fulfil them.
These measures all resulted in a positive dynamic around the project.
Greening and enhancing the route for better integration
We arranged for the construction of streetscaping projects such as public gardens, shared allotments, play parks and zero-carbon transport paths (for pedestrians and bikes). These further contributed to project acceptability and to the improvement of residents’ quality of life.
