New stage for the controversial Machilly-Thonon motorway in neighboring France. The Senate voted the law bringing into conformity the local urban plan of Bas-Chablais and the declaration of public utility of the motorway following an administrative error. The associations denounce a denial of democracy.
A declaration of public utility signed by the French state in December 2019, appeals including that of the canton of Geneva rejected in December 2021, nothing more then opposed the progress of the project. But in February 2020, the Bas Chablais local inter-municipal urban plan completely obscured the route of the future 2×2 toll lanes. An administrative error that might have delayed the project for several years. Two Haut-Savoyard senators therefore passed a law to regularize the situation, to the great displeasure of the associations. Jean-Pierre Burnet co-president of ACPAT denounces a denial of democracy.
Widely adopted in the Senate, this text therefore eliminates a cumbersome administrative process.
About twenty associations have been opposing this highway for years for environmental reasons. They would prefer to use these investments to modernize the Léman Express line.
The motorway project between Thonon and Machilly can therefore continue thanks to this law, but to be definitively adopted, the proposal will still have to be examined by the National Assembly.
