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Patrollers watch over the A75 and the safety of users between Lodévois and Larzac

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Une partie de l’équipe du CEI, sur le site basé sur l’aire d’autoroute, au pied du Roc Castel. A.M.

From Clermont-Ferrand to Béziers, they are on the ground 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even if the motorists on the A75 do not pay attention to them. However, the agents of the DIR Massif Central with their orange uniforms and vehicles are essential to guarantee traffic and the safety of users. This is the case for those of the Caylar operations and intervention center (CEI), attached to the management center of the Southern District of Clermont-l'Hérault.

“We cover a small number of kilometers, 27, but which accumulates constraints and challenges from the border with Aveyron to the south of Lodève at the Bosc in a perilous sector”'summarizes the head of the center Sylvain Schwartzenberg. His teams are currently working on hydro-cleaning in the Vierge and Escalette tunnels, which they maintain, after having carried out clearing operations further south. “There are scheduled interventions and unforeseen events, with the markings that go with them each time.”

“We're not here to bother people, but to protect them”

Equipment breakdowns in the tunnels, which can lead to their partial or total closure, as at the beginning of the week in the Vierge tunnel in Lodève, as well as accidents or vehicle breakdowns in Escalette, especially in the summer with the heat and a high traffic peak in both directions, not to mention the vagaries of the weather winter… “There is always something to do every day.” adds the manager While ensuring at least two daily patrols to make sure everything is going well.

“We find everything on the highway, rubbish that we pick up, objects that have fallen from roof boxes and roof racks” says Yves Espinassier, team leader of the CEIdu Caylar since 1998. The agents also frequently receive jeers and other insults during interventions that inevitably create traffic disruption. “Even if in our sector, it is perhaps less frequent than elsewhere, notes Yves. We are not here to annoy them, but to protect them. We live and work here. We do not want there to be problems on the highway.”

A work in the shadows

A perilous mission often in the face of the behavior of some. “When you feel the breath of a truck, or a vehicle passing next to you at over 100 km/h, which doesn't slow down and brushes past you, continues Yves Espinassier. Danger is our daily life, we remain very vigilant but we get used to it.” Patrol officers are often the first to arrive at a breakdown or accident, before the police and emergency services. “We do a job in the shadows and that's when people realize how useful we are.”

L’Escalette, a dangerous area in both directions of traffic. A.M.

Snow, water, tunnels, cliffs, slopes… a sector with high stakes

Of the 1,200 accidents recorded along the entire length of the A75 in 2023, 72 occurred on the 27 km covered by the CEI du Caylar, a sensitive sector that combines major challenges and constraints. The CEI du Caylar works in conjunction with the traffic information and management center (CIGT) based in Clermont-l'Hérault, which is the eyes of the motorway on its Hérault section. The A75 has seen its traffic more than double since 2002 with the share of heavy goods vehicles which is very high on the Lodévois Larzac, from the fact that there is no alternative route for short and medium journeys. More generally, there has been a 4% increase in 7 years in traffic for all vehicles combined, with an average of nearly 26,000 per day, including 3,900 trucks at take the route.

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“Due to its configuration without an alternative diversion route, and its characteristics, it requires specific maintenance and operating skills. It is under constant high surveillance” indicates Jean-Michel Bambuck, the director of the Southern District of the DIRMassif central.“We must ensure 100% operation of the A75 and its winter viability on the Larzac and in the Escalette in particular. A steep sector with its steep 8% gradient in which we intervene a lot on breakdowns, both downhill and uphill with overheating of vehicles”. The karst environment of the Larzac and the Lergue river which runs alongside the motorway also requires increased vigilance. “There is a strong ecological challenge of protecting water resources with retention basins to prevent water from the highway from flowing into nature.”
Not forgetting the two tunnels of 400 and 800 meters. With strong monitoring and maintenance constraints, as for geotechnical structures, cliffs, embankments and retaining walls which also require great attention.
 

An autonomous and equipped center to deal with any eventuality

The Caylar operations and intervention center (CEI) is based on the motorway service area, a stone's throw from the village, at the foot of Roc Castel.

Sylvain Schwartzenberg has been running the center since 2023. A.M.
“There are 16 of us, 10 agents and five team leaders with me. 18 in the winter period with the support of two temporary workers for the implementation of additional on-call duty” indicates Sylvain Schwartzenberg, head of a center built in 1996 with the arrival of the A75. Initially placed under the aegis of the DDE, it switched to the DIR in 2007 with the transfer of roads. The site is autonomous, with its offices, dormitories and workshop, its storage sheds for panels and various equipment, a salt shelter, a fuel station and a battery of vehicles.

“We can split our missions into two, there is the maintenance of the green and blue dependencies and the signage and a large exploitation component with the winter viability, the installation of markings for the works. The exploitation is 75% of our work.” On three parts that make up the 27 km intervention sector: the plateau which is similar to a mid-mountain area, the Escalette with its slope and two tunnels and the Lodévoise plain.

Jean-Michel Bambuck, Audrey and Frédéric Marty, from the South District. A.M.

“We never get bored here,” adds Sylvain, who arrived as an agent in 2008 before becoming team leader in 2014 and then taking over the management of the CEI in 2023. The tunnels require regular training and exercises for our agents.” Agents are also made aware of the dangerous materials that heavy goods vehicles can transport and the operation of retention basins. “We need to be agile and responsive in our sector, because due to its geological configuration there is no real alternative route in the event of a problem, at least for heavy goods vehicles.”

DIR vehicles are regularly hit on the motorway. A.M.

Last summer, a damaged vehicle from the DIRMassif central was exposed for two months on the Caylar rest area during an awareness campaign for users of the A75.
Accidents involving agents of the interdepartmental road directorates who manage the non-concession national motorway network on a daily basis are unfortunately frequent. There have been five deaths in the last four years, 15 injuries per year on average, not to mention the increasing incivility and aggression. “Most of them are linked to the behaviour of motorists and heavy goods vehicle drivers who do not respect speed limits, do not slow down in work zones or do not look at the road, says Frédéric Marty, deputy head of the Southern District. On the A75, five vehicles were hit in 2024, including four in the intervention zone of the Southern District, all of which involved driverless marking devices.”
A ministerial prevention plan was launched by the Ministry of Transport for the period 2023-2027 around seven axes including reinforced signage of worksites and interventions, awareness campaigns, increased sanctions for reckless motorists, training and adapted equipment for agents or reinforced monitoring of road safety rules.

Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116

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