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HUNDREDS OF ECOLOGISTS BLOCKED THE ROAD AND OTHERS NEAR ROUEN. THEY ALSO TOOK ACTION IN NEARBY FORESTS TO HINDER THE DESTRUCTION OF TREES REQUIRED BY THE PLANS Hundreds of protestors came

together on Sunday (May 7) to blockade one of France’s most-used motorways to protest plans for an extension to create a bypass for Rouen. A number of groups including the controversial

radical ecologists _Soulèvements de la Terre _(Earth Uprising), joined forces to block the A13 – also known as the _Autoroute de Normandie_ – causing traffic jams of up to 4km long. The day

before saw a meeting of over 1,000 people in Rouen to denounce the plans, including residents campaigning against the expansion and politicians from both the PS (Socialist Party) and EELV

(Green) parties. The motorway is to be expanded over 40km – at an estimated cost of around €1billion – connecting it to the A28 and bypassing Rouen, but many residents and ecologists oppose

the plan that will see woodland close to the city destroyed. Alongside blocking the motorway, a number of protestors also entered forested areas marked for destruction to disrupt future

construction, including hammering nails into trees to make it difficult for chainsaws to be used on them. WHY IS THE MOTORWAY BEING EXPANDED? The A13 motorway currently runs between Paris

and Caen but new plans will see an offshoot connect the motorway to the northern A28, allowing those driving north to bypass the city of Rouen via a 41.5km expansion. Proponents of the

project say it will bring development opportunities to the east of Rouen, and up to 30,000 vehicles will use the route per day. “Rouen remains the only French metropolis of this size without

a road bypass," said the prefecture in 2021. "This results in a significant flow of heavy goods vehicles in the urban area,” it added. It said it hoped to reduce this and improve

quality of life for residents and drivers through the expansion, which is set to be finished in 2024. Below you can see the planned expansion of the motorway and the bypass: Controversially,

though, the plans will include destruction of swathes of the Bord forest close to the city to build the road, much to the chagrin of ecologists and (some) residents. The _Soulèvements de la

Terre _group – that Interior Minister Gérald Darminan WANTS TO DISBAND – said they have been planning for months to disrupt the motorway project, and that this was only the beginning. READ

MORE: CONTROVERSIAL NEW A69 MOTORWAY IN SOUTHERN FRANCE: WHAT DO YOU THINK? A RANGE OF ECOLOGICAL TACTICS On Sunday, the motorway was only blocked by protestors briefly – they brought debris

from the nearby forest to block the road – but the disruption caused severe delays. Traffic jams stretched around 4km long towards Paris, and 3km the other direction for those venturing

deeper into Normandy, as officials worked to clear the debris. > 🔴 NOUVEAU FIL : ENVAHISSEMENT DE l'#A13 pour lui mettre des > bâtons dans les routes ! >  > Après avoir 

traversé la forêt de Bord puis la nationale, les > manifestant-es se sont équipés de bâtons et ont investi > l'autoroute pour contester le projet de la future #A133A134 > 🧶⤵️ 

pic.twitter.com/qvxMBsTQwf > — Les Soulèvements de la terre (@lessoulevements) May 7, 2023 This was not the only tactic employed by the ecologists, however, who say they are committed to

a drawn-out conflict with the government. Some protestors introduced a species (a long-horned beetle) classified as ‘vulnerable’ to the area, as well as adapting the environment to increase

biodiversity and encourage other endangered species to make the forest their home, creating an environmental roadblock to the expansion. Protestors also branded trees with official markings

to say they should not be cut down to confuse future workers over the legitimacy of previously branded trees. They also drove hundreds of nails into tree trunks in an attempt to make cutting

them down more difficult. Nails driven into trees can damage - and even destroy - chainsaws used against them. The organisation says it had warned of the action in advance, however, and use

nails with heads that are visible to prevent injury to workers. The introduction of nails into trunks also makes sawmills less likely to purchase the wood (for fear of damaging their

tools), creating a distribution backlog as resources cannot be moved away. RELATED ARTICLES GO-AHEAD FOR CONTROVERSIAL ‘MEGA RESERVOIRS’ IN WEST FRANCE MOTORCYCLISTS FILL POTHOLES WITH

EASTER EGGS TO PROTEST FRENCH ROADS