Since mid-January, work has been underway on part of the banks of the Canal du Midi, weakened by road traffic and navigation. They are reinforced over 320 meters along Boulevard de la Méditéranée.
To the south of the Canal du Midi, near the Pont des Demoiselles, the calm is momentarily broken. On an imposing barge 9 meters wide and 24 meters long – which occupies almost all of this narrow portion – a vibro-sinking machine causes a monster noise. Rehabilitation work on part of the banks of the canal, which began in mid-January, is in progress.
They must be reinforced because they threaten to collapse over 320 meters. The subsidence would be due to road traffic on the Boulevard de la Méditéranée, used by 20,000 vehicles per day, as well as the use of navigation.
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Toulouse Métropole has entrusted the reinforcement of the banks to the Badineau company. Workers are driving sheet piles, huge steel plates, more than four meters deep, on the left side. Onlookers stop to observe this spectacle. Paul’s walk came to a halt when he reached the level of the barge: “The whole construction site is impressive. I noticed for some time that the banks were in danger. Fortunately they are reinforced. Without that, they could have collapsed…”
Shoreline revegetation
Cécile Dufraisse, deputy mayor of Toulouse in charge of canals and rivers, passing through the site, indicates that the City, from 2019, noticed the erosion of the banks. “A municipal decree has been taken. Pedestrians are prohibited from walking on this part. At this time, we started thinking about repairing the banks, ”says the elected official. More than three years later, the work, which weighs more than 1.2 million euros, has been completed. “We have rules and constraints that we cannot deviate from. Work with the State and with the ministry has been initiated. It is all these trade-offs, necessary for the launch of the work, and the rehabilitation study work, which explain why it is only now that we are strengthening the banks of the Canal du Midi”, adds Cécile Dufraisse.
These bank reinforcement works will last until March 15. “It is not excluded that they will be finished earlier”, slips Jean-Baptiste Auriol, project manager for the city of Toulouse and Toulouse Métropole. Once completed, the banks will be vegetated. Ivy and strawberry clover will be planted.
If this portion is preserved from subsidence, others, higher, will be threatened in the coming years. specialist.
