The Council of State authorized, Monday June 29, “definitively” the continuation of the work on the A69 motorway which will link Toulouse to Castres. This 53 km motorway segment should shorten the journey between these two cities by around twenty minutes.
This decision seals the future of this infrastructure which is at the heart of a legal battle waged by environmental activists for more than two years.
July 2018: declaration of public utility
The government of Édouard Philippe declared the construction site of the motorway link between Castres and Verfeil, around fifty kilometers long, to be of public utility in July 2018.
Four years later, in April 2022, Prime Minister Jean Castex approved the concession contract for the A69 to the company Atosca. The decree provides that the subsidiary of the NGE group will ensure the construction and maintenance of the highway, as well as the operation of the future toll.
March 2023: start of work and first legal action
Work on the A69 begins in March 2023. At that time, an environmental association appealed to the Council of State’s emergency judge to suspend the felling of trees on the route of the future motorway. But, as no new cuts are planned before September, the highest administrative court considers that this request is not urgent and rejects it.
June 2023: appeal from around ten associations
Around ten associations and unions, including France Nature Environnement, Friends of the Earth and the Confédération paysanne, filed an appeal in June with the Toulouse administrative court against the environmental authorizations allowing the work to be carried out.
The applicants file an interim suspension so that the construction site is interrupted pending the judgment of the case on the merits, in order to “avoid irreversible damage to the environment”.
After studying some 12,000 pages of the file, the judge rejects their request. Opponents of the A69 turn to the Council of State, which makes the same decision.
April 2024: criminal complaints
While awaiting the judgment of the Toulouse administrative court on the merits, associations are turning to criminal justice in April 2024. France Nature Environnement, Friends of the Earth and Eau Secours 31 are filing a complaint against Atosca accusing it of dumping polluted water into nature.
The collective La Voie est libre announces that it has made a report to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office questioning the legality of the financial arrangement of the project.
June 2024: the duration of the targeted concession
In June 2024, three associations launched a new procedure before the Council of State. His goal? Cancel the contract binding the State to the concessionaire which, according to him, runs for too long. A clause provides that Atosca operates the A69 for 55 years, compared to 25 to 30 years usually, denounces their lawyer.
August 2024: complaint against the mayor of Maurens-Scopont
In the summer, work on the future A69 continues, but opponents are still trying to put an end to it at all costs. The Way is clear and Friends of the Earth Midi-Pyrénées announces filing criminal complaints against the mayor of Maurens-Scopont, whom they accuse of having used his influence to change the route of the future motorway.
November 2024: dramatic twist from the public rapporteur
At the end of November 2024, a few days before the hearing on the merits of the Toulouse administrative court, the procedure experienced a real twist. Public rapporteur Mona Rousseau submits her report, pleading for the total cancellation of the order authorizing the work.
The magistrate, responsible for giving her independent analysis of the dispute, contests the imperative and major nature of the public interest of the project, considering it “excessive” to speak of a situation of isolation for the Castres-Mazamet sector. This legal principle is at the heart of the environmental authorization obtained by the concessionaire to be able to build the highway: without a major public interest, Atosca would not have the right to derogate from environmental legislation on protected species and habitats.
February 2025: cancellation of the order authorizing the construction site
At the end of 2024, the Toulouse administrative court should have ruled on the legality – or not – of the order authorizing the work. He finally reopened the investigation after adding new documents to the file, while allowing the work to continue.
A second hearing on the merits finally took place in February 2025. In their decision, the judges followed the conclusions of the public rapporteur by canceling the order, thus stopping the continuation of the construction site.
May 2025: construction can resume
New reversal. Administrative justice decided on May 28 that work on the Toulouse Castres highway would be able to resume. The court ruled on an emergency appeal filed by the State, aiming to restart the work while awaiting the hearing on the merits, scheduled a few months later.
December 2025: the Toulouse Court of Appeal reinstates environmental authorizations
The Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal annuls the judgment of the Toulouse administrative court of February 27, 2025 and consequently reinstates the environmental authorizations issued by the State for the construction of the A69 motorway (as well as those concerning the A680). On the merits, the court considers that the project notably meets the condition of imperative reason of major public interest (RIIPM), contrary to what the administrative court had ruled.
After this ruling, several associations and individuals filed an appeal before the Council of State.
June 2026: green light in a final decision by the Council of State
The fate of the A69 is sealed with the final decision rendered by the Council of State on June 29, 2026. The highest French court rejects the three appeals. She considers that the A69 motorway project responds to a compelling reason of public interest with four objectives: “reduce the travel time between Castres and Toulouse, improve the living environment of local residents, provide an improvement in road safety and contribute to the development of the Castres conurbation” and that there is no “satisfactory alternative solution”.
This is a definitive green light for the continuation of this highway project. The collective of opponents of the A69 immediately regretted this final decision. “It’s official, in a world that is burning, climate denial is decreed by the highest sphere of legal power,” they lambasted in a press release.
