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According to a report by the Court of Auditors, 53% of the national road network is in a catastrophic state. The State, which has often entrusted this management to the departments, is implicated.
Cracked tar, potholes synonymous with accidents, the state of French roads is worrying. France is ranked 18th in the world for the quality of these pavements when it was first ten years ago. On a county road to Soize (Eure-et-Loir)traffic is officially closed, but some residents venture there. The road has 3 km of unfilled holes. “I try to go a little to the right, a little to the left (…) we are obliged to find where there are less holes”, explains a motorist.
The road was however repaired by the department, but in a hurry according to locals. In a report on the state of the roads, the Court of Auditors criticizes the State for the absence of a national policy and for allocating few means to the communities. Pierre Aubry, retired, has launched a petition to have what he calls the “patch road” repaired. “They filled all the big holes with a kind of tar that doesn’t hold”, he testifies. The petition was signed by 250 people and the department promises to renovate the pavement by the end of 2022.