Roads

Meet The Squirrels — Earth Protectors In Southern France

August 28, 2025 Nadia Mejjati, Waging Nonviolence. Resist! Direct Action, Environment, France, Nonviolence, Roads

In France an activist group called The Squirrels is at the center of a movement opposing the construction of a motorway extension from Toulouse to Castres — the A69. They are gravely concerned by the ecocide that this represents. The project is highly contested due to protected species, ecological habitat and fertile agricultural land in its path, as well as a castle. Furthermore, the project’s opponents and the administrative court have deemed the A69 unnecessary and expensive. There is even a proposed, alternative plan to upgrade the existing road (the RN126) to suit the community’s needs. The A69, if completed, would mean that those who can’t afford the toll would have to reroute, increasing traffic through local towns, which isn’t an issue with the RN126.

What Paris Can Teach Other Cities About Removing Roads

June 10, 2024 Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet, Next City. Create! Environment, France, Paris, Roads, Transportation, Urban Design, Walkable Cities

Can removing a road make it easier to drive more freely elsewhere? A major study of 63 roads and squares closed to motor traffic in various European cities (mainly in Britain and Germany) suggests that it does. In many cases, cars disappeared altogether, rather than being displaced into parallel streets, lessening the dreaded congestion. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, made the same claim, but the court disagreed, holding that the research was inadequate. However, actual measures of traffic levels before and after the road closure along the Seine, announced the week the court handed down its decision, indicated a reduction in motor traffic in nearby areas.

What If Non-Drivers Helped Plan Our Transportation Systems?

May 13, 2024 Anna Zivarts, Next City. Create! Disability Rights, Participatory Democracy, Roads, Transportation, Urban Design

In the fall of 2021, I was invited by Roger Millar, the head of the Washington State Department of Transportation, to speak to the board of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials at its annual meeting. Before the meeting, Secretary Millar explained that I’d be presenting to the heads of each state department of transportation, and I started to get nervous. I am not a civil engineer. I don’t have a degree in urban planning. I have never worked for a transit agency or department of transportation. What I had was my lifetime of experience as a disabled nondriver and stories from the hundreds of other nondrivers from every corner of Washington State.

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