Overview
- The Toulouse administrative appeals court validated the A69 environmental authorization and overturned the February 27 ruling that had halted work.
- The transport ministry said the decision fully restores the project's environmental permits, and the main opponents' group confirmed the ruling.
- Prefects in Tarn and Haute-Garonne issued December 19 orders stopping work on at least 42 hectares alleged to be unauthorized construction zones.
- The Toulouse prosecutor has described those disputed emprises as a "manifest violation of environmental public order," with a criminal hearing set for January 12, 2026.
- The 53 km highway between Toulouse and Castres plans to start laying pavement in January 2026, requiring about 500,000 tonnes of hot‑mix asphalt.