Lorraine: Road financing challenges debated in Metz

Everyone agrees that the delay in road infrastructure management promises to be particularly significant for public finances. "Regarding national roads, the catch-up cost is estimated at €5 billion over 7 years and €20 billion for departmental roads," summarizes Alexandre Rouffignac, general delegate of Routes de France. A bill to which the speaker is quick to add "an investment of €15 billion/year to maintain the network ." This is a mountain in front of which the sector's stakeholders (public works manufacturers and contractors) are showing some concern while scrutinizing the prospects for construction sites: "at a time when the Minister of Transport is launching a mobility consultation "Ambition France transports" and when motorway concessions are due to end (by 2034), we must work on infrastructure maintenance and transport policy," insists Frédéric Roth, president of Routes de France, Lorraine delegation. At the regional level, the A31 represents an "opportunity" for everyone . Alexandre Rouffignac took the opportunity to emphasize that "the road remains the primary mode of mobility for people and goods."

By recovering, at its request, at the beginning of the year the national road network, for an experimental phase planned until 2029, the Grand Est Region wants to implement, by mid-2027, the eco-contribution for heavy goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes . "Objective: to recover enough to invest €1 billion over ten years to modernize the infrastructure" specifies Jeannine Dreyer on behalf of the community. She underlines the decision of the Region to vote "a differentiated annex budget" to increase visibility on the management experiment by facilitating the allocation of resources. In particular on some priorities such as the upgrading to 2X2 lanes of the RN4 to the East of Lunéville and at the level of Saint-Dizier.

"The road must pay for the road," assures Alexandre Rouffignac, while reminding that the renewal of motorway concessions deserves a careful evaluation: "They generate €50 billion in tax revenue, but only €12 billion goes to the road," he laments, drawing the attention of the assembly to a rather unwelcome reality: "Since 2012, France has fallen from 1st to 19th place for the quality of its road infrastructure." A ranking resulting from the World Economic Forum which, for some, remains questionable. Nevertheless, the underinvestment observed by the Court of Auditors over the last two decades has left nearly 20% of national roads and 10% of departmental roads in poor condition.