It is a mini town bordering, on each side, six motorway lanes south of the Drôme. The areas of Montélimar, connected by a footbridge, are among the largest in Europe. The figures make you dizzy: up to 500 people work there in the summer, on more than 40 hectares of land and welcome at the height of the holidays up to 100,000 people at the same time (i.e. 2.5 times the population of Montélimar ).
250 tonnes of nougats sold each year at the Montélimar rest areas
To do this, the workforce is reinforced. In the two nougat stores, the shelves are full and the animations will follow one another to attract customers. Professionals know they are playing big over this period. Year-round, up to 290,000 customers leave with one or more sachets of this Drôme delicacy. “We have prepared in priority the packages that sell the most”confides Marie-Claude Stoffel, general manager of Nougats Chabert and Guillot and president of Gie internougat.
The Montélimar area will be offering a whole host of activities this summer for children as well as adults. This Tuesday, Vinci Autoroute did prevention there by exposing 18 patrol trucks hit – the body completely smashed – during their interventions on the motorway. “It’s something to see thatreacts Reginald Bon, patroller for 20 years and in reinforcement this summer. Sometimes I saw the trucks approaching and rubbing my vehicle. It always happened but I can tell you that I was already scared”.
Safety first
These trucks will criss-cross France all summer to remind motorists – some of whom rarely take the motorway the rest of the year – to remain attentive and respect the motorway code. In summer, with traffic jams, collisions are often less serious but they are more numerous. This Friday the day is classified red in the direction of departures in the Rhone Valley. It will even be black this Saturday.