A major European transit route, infamous for its dangerous conditions, the Central Europe Atlantic Route (RCEA) is about to turn one of the darkest pages in its history. The missing link in this route connecting the Atlantic coast to Central Europe will finally disappear. Of the 180 kilometers stretch linking Saône-et-Loire to Allier, only nine kilometers remained without a modern, safe configuration. This bottleneck, located precisely between the towns of La Fourche and Col des Vaux, will be widened to provide a continuous dual carriageway. This transformation has been awaited for decades by local users and road transport professionals, for whom this section of road was all too often synonymous with road tragedies.
Progress on this major project had been hampered in recent years by a financial imbroglio. The comprehensive modernization project, estimated at nearly €397 million, was paralyzed by a €15 million technical cost overrun that the various local authorities were reluctant to approve. Ultimately, direct intervention by the national government allowed the project to break this nearly three-year administrative deadlock. The prefecture of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region officially confirmed that state funds would cover the entire remaining budget shortfall. This financial green light allows the project to resume operations immediately, with the imminent launch of calls for tenders to public works companies scheduled for early summer, with construction expected to begin in the fall.
While this complete conversion to a dual carriageway represents a historic victory for road safety, it does not mark the definitive end of work on this route. The dual carriageway configuration will eliminate the major risk of head-on collisions, historically responsible for the route's grim nickname, but several secondary accident black spots still need to be addressed to fully improve traffic flow. State services will need to complete the specific safety improvements for the Charolles bypass, improve traffic flow through the town of Montceau-les-Mines, and undertake a complete redesign of the Jeanne-Rose roundabout in Montchanin, a strategic junction where significant flows of cars and trucks converge.