Avoid taking the A31 this weekend, going downhill, near Metz. The A31 will be cut from this Saturday, May 14 at 8 p.m., until Monday, May 16 at 6 a.m., because of repair work on the Longeville-les-Metz bridge, which spans an arm of the Moselle and the Saulcy campus. This work began last year and will last until October, but this weekend will take place the planing of the roadway and the laying of a new bitumen coating.
34 consecutive hours of closing
The highway will therefore be cut in the direction Thionville-Nancy, from the Croix de Hauconcourt to Fey. A diversion via the A4 then the RN431, the eastern bypass of Metz, will be put in place. On the other hand, the A31 will be open in the upward direction, with the speed reduced to 70 km/h all the same near the bridge.
– Moselle prefecture
This work was scheduled for last October, but Had to be postponed due to rain : to redo the watertightness of the bridge, you need absolutely dry weather. The Dir-Est will also take the opportunity to replace the guardrails.
The Longeville bridge dates from the construction of the motorway, in 1969-70, so it is over fifty years old. Some weaknesses have come to light in recent years, hence this complete facelift: “It had a watertightness defect, water has infiltrated over the years. But it also had a structural flaw, due to the techniques used at the time“, explains Guillaume Artis, the road engineering manager of the Dir-Est. “We are therefore currently installing carbon reinforcements under the structure“. These are the works that requirelower the speed to 70 km/h on this section motorway, to limit vibrations during installation. This phase of work will last until October.
Additional credits after the Genoa disaster
The renovation of the Longeville-lès-Metz bridge was scheduled, but the Genoa disaster in Italy in August 2018, when the Morandi bridge collapsed, killing 43 people, accelerated things. “The government has allocated additional funds to renovate the oldest bridges in advance. There is no risk of collapse, but it is better to maintain them in time, rather than having to close them completely for several months in the event of serious damage.“, specifies Laurent Touvet, the prefect of the Moselle. Next year, other bridges of the A31 will undergo major works, but which will not necessarily cause the same inconvenience: Beauregard in Thionville, Yutz and Talange. Overall budget for this work on this bridge: 3.5 million euros.
The A31 will therefore be closed in the downward direction, from the Croix de Hauconcourt to Fey, this weekend, as well as the following three nights, May 16-19. Authorities expect traffic jams of 2 to 3 kilometers at the cross of Hauconcourt, when taking the diversion, especially on Saturday evening and Sunday from noon. It is advisable to avoid this axis as much as possible during the cut.