Contenu du sommaire : Autoroutes, acteurs et dynamiques territoriales

The A39 motorway, linking Dijon and Bourg-en-Bresse via Dole and reinforces the motorway network of central eastern France and forms part of transport corridor formed the Saône and Rhône between northern Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Apart from its role part of the national motorway network, the also serves the different regions it crosses. But are or will be its effects on these regions ? In order to identify the various socio- economic and ecological impacts, the A39 has been the subject of a series of observations. The present article is concerned only with the socio-economic impacts produced during the construction of the motorway. It considers first the motorway itself and its observation unit and then the effects of the construction phase, followed by the principal policy measures taken by the local authorities to entrance the impact of this new transport infrastructure.

Understanding of the interactions between motorways and territories is enriched by the insight provided for the first time by information collected over a ten-year period. The roles of economic and institutional actors as well as local and external actors are considered in relation to the processes of development and economic adaptation. Account is also taken of spatial and temporal dimensions leading to attempts at modelling of the dynamics of restructuring.

The motorway development which took place between 1985 and 1999 in the Durance valley illustrates the problem of the introduction of a high-speed transport link in a sparsely populated, rural mountainous region. Within this region the motorway has led to a concentration of population and economic activity along its length, leading both to a problem of imbalance between different territories as well as to new associations between them. The creation of co-operative structures linking different communes testifies to this development and to the permanence of such relations. This raises the question of the extent to which the development of this axis contributes to territorial restructuring.

The A68 motorway links Albi with Toulouse but its development was not a major national priority. This motorway, located in a "peripheral region" constitutes a section of the future highway from Lyon to Toulouse. Its realisation owes much to the combined efforts of many local political, socio-professional and associative groups acting in different spatial and temporal scales. Its development has taken place in an evolving context which conditioned the origin of the project and explains its long history and adaptation to local conditions. The motorway has not been imposed on an undeveloped area. On the contrary, it has benefited from the experience gained over two decades of local development planning. In return it has taken part in the restructuring of the areas it crosses or avoids, functioning as a factor of spatial differentiation.

The A89 motorway is being extended into the Dordogne, a region where urban influences are limited. Its development reveals the strengths and weaknesses of a territory and makes a positive contribution to the process of territorial restructuring through the ways in which it impacts on local development and leads to the recognition of the need for coherent action. The fragmented character of the area crossed by the motorway, characterised by fierce political in-fighting over its development, contrasts with the mobilization of local actors and the strengthening of local identities in these zones away from the motorway.

The example of the route chosen for the A83 Nantes- Bordeaux motorway which initially was planned to cross the 'Marais poitevin' sheds light on the role played by certain local actors and their political strategies. There is a link between the public expression of opposition to the project and subsequent local political realignments. The views of the ecologists with respect to the route, which was supported unanimouly by the technical experts and local politicians, were taken up by the socialist Ségolène Royal who had recently been elected a member of Parliament. She was seeking to establish her long-term political future by adopting a different position, especially compared with that of the local politician. However, certain political choices suggest a change of views by this better groum and the position of Ségolène Royal seems less favourable.

The generalization of the use of the car has favoured the shift from a compact to a dispersed urban form, extending over a vast area. Marc Wiel refers to this as the urban transition. The aim of this article is to examine the relationships between this urban transition, the interactions between different actors and public policy in the Toulouse urban area (structuring of the city's transport networks, the development of public transport and spatial planning). Everything happened as if an 'implicit social contract governed by the use of the car" had structured the way in which the growth of Toulouse was managed by the public authorities. However, from the 1990s the limits of this development model appeared with the emergence ôf the notion of sustainable urban development.