FR / A69 motorway: immediate suspension of work on several sites (Toulouse judicial court)

The Toulouse Magistrates' Court has ordered Atosca, the main contractor for the A69 motorway (linking Castres and Toulouse in the Occitanie region), to "immediately suspend work in progress and planned" on several identified sites along the route of the future motorway, according to an order issued by the Liberties and Detention Judge on 12/01/2026.

This environmental judgment, which News Tank was able to consult, follows a hearing on 19/12/2025 at which the company Atosca, Simon Bertoux, Prefect of the Tarn, and FNE Occitanie Pyrénées, the environmental association who filed the complaint, were heard.

The document states that the investigation carried out by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) found that "rights of way had been exceeded at 46 disputed sites, covering around 29 hectares, and that work had been carried out without authorisation in areas initially reserved for compensation or which should have been the subject of preservation measures".

Among the impacts identified were "deforestation, land clearing, undergrowth clearance and soil subsidence leading to the…