Overview
- The Toulouse administrative appeals court restored the project’s environmental authorization, overturning the February 27 judgment that had annulled it and stopped work.
- In a detailed ruling, the court recognized a raison impérative d’intérêt public majeur, found no satisfactory alternative to a new motorway link, and deemed species protection and compensation measures adequate.
- Construction, already about two-thirds complete with roughly €300 million spent of a €450 million budget, is now set to continue toward a planned opening in autumn 2026, according to Atosca and the transport ministry.
- Prefects have frozen work in zones used outside the authorized footprint—estimated at at least 42 to 46 hectares—pending separate proceedings.
- A criminal environmental hearing on the unauthorized emprises is scheduled for January 12, and opponents say they will appeal to the Conseil d’État to seek a further halt.