Jean-Jacques Raffaele, Mayor of La Turbie, discusses the idea of a cable car between La Turbie and Monaco, completed with a parking lot. A similar project was set up at Mount Faron in Toulon. The concept is not yet officially of interest to the Principality.
“This cable car project could come to life. And I stress the word ‘could’. The first working meetings will be held, hopefully, at the end of January, and I leave you to imagine the impact that such a project with its own parking lot would have in terms of pollution and traffic.”
In the midst of his speech to the population and at the end of a tirade on the future Beausoleil motorway junction, the mayor of La Turbie, Jean-Jacques Raffaele, spoke about the concerning chronic congestion at the exit tunnel of the A500. On the Principality’s side, the government does not oppose any suggestions and readily say that “every idea is good to consider”, but reminds us “that no study plans or anything has been scheduled yet”.
At this stage, nothing has been envisioned yet. Nothing but thoughts “on the accessibility of Monaco in all sectors: port, railway station, airport … and on a cableway to La Turbie”. Nothing new, therefore, has been offered, not even the observations of Jean-Jacques Raffaele. “At the rate at which Monaco is creating jobs, a rate of roughly 1000 jobs per year, in five or six years even with the opening of the Beausoleil ramp and the improvement of the train system, we will return to the current situation, in my opinion. We will still be saturated.”
“The general idea to resolve these problems is to make a large parking lot to commute using then public transport system: either by cable car or underground. Something that would allow commuters to go to work in Monaco by parking their vehicles here,” reminds the mayor.
However the mayor was reported to start by receiving external proposals. “We were solicited today by people who presented us with cable car projects that would be much cheaper and much faster. This is achievable in the short term. There are administrative rules to look at but it can be an interesting project for us to work on.”
Jean-Jacques Raffaele might certainly very soon share his solutions to the traffic problem with the Minister of State, Serge Telle, since the mayor announced that the initial meeting between the two men was scheduled in the near future. The mayor also took the opportunity to insist on two non-negotiable conditions for La Turbie’s community. “We want to have at attractive rate for the parking lot outside La Turbie. If you make a cable car to La Tête de Chien, the cars will pass through La Turbie, so you really need a car park near the motorway, which goes down to Monaco and makes a connection with the cable car.”
At the inauguration of the Albert II tunnel, the Sovereign had touched upon the idea of a cable car near a large car park at the exotic garden, connected to the heart of the city.
