A cycling plan to connect the city center to the sea
The Hyères town hall presented its cycling plan, featuring the redevelopment of Avenue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire as its flagship project.
The mayor of Hyères, Véronique Bernardini, and her deputy for mobility, Grégory Audibert, detailed on October 21 the contours of the municipality's future cycling plan.
Part of an approach to rethink travel, this initiative aims to create a safe and coherent cycling network. Its first concrete step is the complete redevelopment of Avenue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire to connect the city center to the station area and, beyond, to the coast.
This project is part of a broader reflection, as the mayor highlighted: "It's one of the priority subjects that we really wanted to develop, and so we framed ourselves within a mobility plan that is on the scale of the metropolis."
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Véronique Bernardini specified that a global study was launched to redefine all flows (buses, bicycles, pedestrians, cars) in order to guarantee safety and fluidity for all users, particularly families and middle school students.
A project integrated into the metropolitan plan
The cycling plan is linked with the mobility plan of the Toulon Provence Méditerranée metropolis for the 2025-2035 decade. This higher framework includes major public transport projects, multimodal exchange hubs, and a cycling component deemed essential.
"There is the public inquiry [on the metropolitan mobility plan] which has been open since November 12, and there will therefore be drop-in sessions in all municipalities," specified Grégory Audibert. Two of these sessions will be held in Hyères, including one on December 17, to allow residents to consult the project and share their observations with the inquiring commissioner.
Before finalizing its own plan, the Municipality launched a consultation process. Elected officials have already met with cyclists' associations and are preparing to consult them again on technical details. In parallel, an online survey will be launched by the end of the week.
"It will be widely distributed on social networks. It will gather all opinions, see what needs to be improved, because the challenge is to avoid breaks in the route with bike lanes, so that they are safer," explained the deputy for mobility.
Avenue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, the first link
The most advanced project is the rehabilitation of Avenue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire. This strategic axis of about one kilometer will connect the city center, continuing from Avenue Gambetta, to the station area and Espace 3000.
The development plans for the creation of a two-way bike lane, a soft path for pedestrians, as well as greening of the space. The work, scheduled to start at the beginning of 2027, will take into account the overhaul of underground networks.
A pause in the work is scheduled during the summer period so as not to disrupt traffic. "We're pausing during the summer period, to restore traffic because we're going to have a traffic issue. So, during the summer period, we return to normal traffic and we will resume in phase 2," confirmed Véronique Bernardini.
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The development of this axis is only a first step. The goal is to create a complete network, connecting to existing lanes leading to the port and the beaches. This new link also aims to facilitate daily commutes for middle school students.
Ultimately, this local network will be complemented by metropolitan services, such as a bike-sharing system currently under study, and will integrate into broader routes. "There is the track that crosses the metropolis. It starts from Six-Fours, goes to Saint-Raphaël, it's 120 kilometers. The idea is also to be able to connect to that track," concluded Grégory Audibert.
Photos Philippe OLIVIER.