Snow: 400 vehicles still blocked on the roads in Ile-de-France, difficulties on the A13

Guillaume Dominguez with AFP // Photo credit: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP 09:17, 09 January 2024, modified at 09:19, 09 January 2024

Some "400 vehicles" are still blocked Tuesday morning on the roads in Ile-de-France due to bad weather that has disrupted traffic on part of the A13 motorway that had to be closed to traffic, said Transport Minister Clément Beaune.

In Ile-de-France, Essonne and Yvelines have been placed on orange snow-ice alert by Météo-France. According to Clément Beaune, who spoke of "a hundred" "non-serious" accidents during the night, the disruptions are concentrated "on the roads".

"It's in the process of being resolved," the minister said on RMC, referring to up to "1,000 vehicles", heavy goods vehicles and private cars, which were blocked "at the beginning of the night", then "800" in the early morning. The difficulties particularly concern the A13 motorway, which must remain closed to traffic all morning for "about ten kilometres", between Orgeval and Rocquencourt, said Clément Beaune.

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"We're going to take our time"

While there is still a lot of snow on the side of the road, many motorists did not anticipate this cold spell and find themselves stuck on the highway, some warning on the hard shoulder. Nearly three kilometres of traffic jams have started to form on the A13 motorway by the time the sandblasters arrive to clear the road of snow.

For some motorists stuck in this traffic jam, they will have to wait. "We're going to go there, we're going to take our time and then we're going to see what we can do" to get to work, Abdel, who works in maintenance, said in his van. "I'm going to call my boss and tell him I'll be late," he says.

Few disruptions on the RATP and SNCF network

In his car, Jason begins to anticipate. He's going to start working in traffic jams. "I don't know what to do, so I'm going to start working in the car," he quipped. "The salt spreaders should have anticipated anyway, but hey. Now it's falling on us," Jason said. From now on, the sandblasters are working to completely clear snow from the A13 motorway. Expected to return to normal by midday.

For its part, the RATP told AFP that the bus lines it operates on behalf of Ile-de-France Mobilités "are running normally this morning". "Some lines in the southeast and southwest sectors of the Ile-de-France" had not been able to take their service in the early morning but "were out" at 8 am, said a spokeswoman. On the RATP rail network - metro, RER, tram - "traffic is normal", the company said. Also contacted, the SNCF has "nothing major to report" regarding traffic conditions.