Officials in Charente defer road-block of major trunk road

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Elected officials in the south of Charente plan to carry out their threat to block the RN10 trunk road next week, to protest at the delays in upgrading the road to dual carriageway, according to Sud-Ouest.

In an unusual and somewhat extreme measure, the officials made the threat to block the road on 15 December, and plan to carry out their action now that the Christmas holidays are finished.  The road will be blocked in both directions one day early next week to the south of Barbezieux for a large part of the day.  A date has not yet been decided.

The officials are protesting against the government's lack of action in agreeing the financing and timescales for completing the project, which requires 71 million euros to complete.  The protest is being led by president of the community of communes ‘3B' (Barbezieux, Baignes and Brossac) Jacques Chabot, who together with colleagues is demanding that the stretch of the RN10 between Reignac and Chevanceaux is finally dualled.

The 11.4km stretch is seen as an accident blackspot, and carries large amounts of heavy traffic between Bordeaux and Poitiers.  The protest is timed to send a message to decision-makers in Paris who will shortly be agreeing budgets for upgrading the roads network.  3.8 billion euros is up for grabs between 2009 and 2013, and secretary of state for transport Domenique Bussereau is expected to announce his plans over the coming days. 

So important is this project that senator and Charente council president Michel Boutant has taken the unusual step of lobbying both the prime minister Francois Fillon and president Nicolas Sarkozy directly, in order to secure adequate funding.

The RN10 is a constant source of frustration for residents and officials in South Charente, as it has become an important arterial route in the south west, but has yet to be fully upgraded.  In fact a report published in October 2008 by roads expert Daniel Herbreteau suggested that the road had become more important than the A7 in south east France, and suggested that a new motorway needed to be built.  Charente is the only department in France without one single kilometre of motorway running through it.

Next week will see officials joined by local residents to form a road-block between Chantillac and the junction with the D133 Bors-de-Baignes, at various times of the day, and the volume of traffic normally carried on this route will cause disruption as far away as Poitiers and Bordeaux.