A few days before the deconfinement, supporters of the bicycle are “in turmoil”, says Nicolas Guilmain, who writes the blog Jeanne by bike, pedal in Orleans and sometimes elsewhere. For this computer scientist from Orleans who travels by bicycle, “this is a historic opportunity to test things in the way of getting around. All the cities do it, Orléans must not remain on the fringes ”.
Paris, Rouen, Tours, many cities are realizing that the place of biking in the city will be modified, all the more so as restrictions on public transport are likely to give pride of place to cars. However, cycling is less pollution, less parking problems, a city quieted according to its supporters.
In Orleans, the Vélorution collective, which represents some 300 sympathizers and fifteen active members, has published a map of priority routes for which it is asking the public authorities for improvements.
For a safer Royal Bridge
Main target: crossing the Royal Bridge, or Georges-V bridge over the Loire, which serves the heart of the city. “1200 bicycle trips were counted every day before the crisis. Crossing is dangerous because we are mixed up with cars, ”describes Nicolas Guilmain. What admits Olivier Carré, the mayor and president of the metropolis, but the latter does not intend to remove the cars on this bridge from May 11, “because it scares the merchants”.
Olivier Carré nevertheless promises to initiate consultation “to go in this direction”. A working group made up of elected officials from all walks of life and from all over the metropolis will meet before the end of May.
According to the Federation of bicycle users (FUB), Orléans is only 14th place out of 31 cities of 100,000 to 200,000 inhabitants, for the place it gives to biking, in a ranking led by Grenoble, Angers and Caen. “Given the low relief and with a rather crowded city, insists Nicolas Guilmain, we could do much better”.
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