This time, they wanted to provide proof by the image. Tuesday, September 28, a few farmers and truck drivers gathered in the town of Tourville-sur-Odon (Calvados), east of Caen. Where a cycle path is built, on either side of the Route de Bretagne. “They have completely narrowed the traffic lane. In any case, we will not go to two trucks, ”points out Arnaud, driver of a truck stuck behind a tractor.
An 800 m track “a bit in the middle of the desert, since there is nothing else, before and after the village. We are willing to share the road, but we are asking for 50 cm more width ”. An important nuance given the size of some vehicles. “When everything is finished, normally, it will be six meters wide,” said Xavier Hay, president of the FDSEA Calvados. But you should know that at the agricultural level, you can move three meters. So having just two times three meters is not enough. “
Farmers want shared roads
However, there is no shortage of farms in the surrounding area. And there is a time of year that Didier, the manager of the village bar, dreads. “There is the harvest. It is still a very agricultural sector. There are tractors every day, crossing trucks. Over here, there is a quarry. So there are flows! ”Not to mention that the Route de Bretagne is also the ideal alternative route when the neighboring A84 is closed or congested.
The example of Tourville is not isolated, according to Arnaud, the truck driver: “Facilities such as central blocks or tracks, it often happens in small villages. They have a lot of them; And sometimes, it is poorly studied and it creates a mess all over the place ”. Locals deplore a consultation meeting last year “where dialogue was impossible because the project was already tied up”. The FDSEA, it regrets “to be heard without being listened to”, on these questions.
Will the action at the end of September be enough? The demonstrators caused some small slowdowns, which will be more numerous, they assure, if the track is not narrowed in favor of the road. Christian, a farmer in the town, calls for a “shared road, as we have not far away”, which promotes cohabitation between the different actors. Otherwise, at the risk of “putting people in insecurity by passing close to their door.” There will be glitches ”. Trucks and tractors will have to play the balancing act, a little more still.
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