Inauguration of Brive-Tulle completion of the A88

9 February 2015 - Events - France

On 7 February 2015, French President François Hollande and Pierre Coppey, Chief Operating Officer of VINCI and Chairman of VINCI Autoroutes, formally opened the Saint-Germain-les-Vergnes - Saint-Pardoux l’Ortigier section of motorway in the Corrèze department (central France).

The bringing into service of this missing link of the A89 motorway marks the completion of the first major West-East cross-country route in France. The ceremony was attended by Xavier Huillard, Chairman and CEO of VINCI, numerous elected representatives, worksite operators and VINCI Autoroutes employees.

  The solution suggested by ASF – VINCI Autoroutes and approved by the French government was unanimously supported by local elected representatives in a consultation launched in 2006 by the Prefect of the Corrèze department. It involved upgrading existing infrastructure (length: 4.6 km), rather than building 17 km of new motorway. The task of transforming the former RD9 secondary road into a section of motorway was entrusted to a consortium of regional companies: Siorat, Guintoli, Eurovia and GTM SO (VINCI Construction France).
This €30m project, entirely financed by ASF (VINCI Autoroutes/VINCI Concessions), has boosted economic activity in the area, notably through the creation, directly and indirectly, of jobs.

  While praising the project as “exemplary" as regards the quality of the works carried out and “exceptional“ for its management of the environment, François Hollande also referred to the disagreements that had emerged between the government and the motorway concession operators since the publication of the opinion of the competition authorities. Calling for calm, he expressed the hope that a “climate of trust” might be established between the two sides. “The solution won’t be found through litigation, but rather through a long-term, overall and definitive agreement on how our motorways are run”, he continued. “I believe that in the next few days we’ll arrive at a satisfactory outcome for this issue”.

Recalling the importance for economic growth of the €3.2 billion motorway stimulus package approved by the European Commission, the President called for reconciliation: “the message today is: we get together, we get the various partners onto the same wavelength, we invest and we create jobs”.