Priority to User Safety

Every day, approximately 80,000 vehicles use the New Coastal Road, a vital artery connecting Saint-Denis to Saint-Paul.

To improve safety and facilitate traffic flow, the Region is accelerating work at the La Possession interchange. This Thursday, May 7, Regional President Huguette Bello visited the construction site to monitor the progress. This visit is part of an effort to expedite the project, with the goal of opening new sections of the road more quickly and reducing delays for users.

The work, initially planned after the completion of the second viaduct, has been brought forward. This decision saves time and allows for the gradual opening of nearly an additional kilometer of the New Coastal Road. This new section will also improve safety by moving the road more than 500 meters away from the cliff edge.

This area still bears the scars of the 2006 tragedy, when a major rockfall of 30,000 m³ caused two deaths and one serious injury. Today, the goal is to prevent this type of risk through a more robust and better-protected infrastructure.

The construction project employs approximately 70 people. It required nearly 150,000 m³ of fill, some of which came from the demolition of the old overpass. This helps to minimize waste and reuse certain materials.

The schedule anticipates the road opening to traffic in August 2026, in the direction from Saint-Denis to Saint-Paul, with a surface designed to reduce traffic noise. In November 2026, the road will open in the opposite direction, from Saint-Paul to Saint-Denis, with the restoration of the original access points.

For the Regional President, this acceleration is crucial to finalizing the project. This framework reminds us that the objective is to fully secure the road and complete the New Coastal Road by 2030, before the launch of the Réunion Express project.