Road closures and updates

[Cathal]

To aid the planning of the route, there are some bits of information that may be relevant.

From a post by an English lad living in des Ecrins on Sun Apr 2nd here:

Road news: the Tunnel from Grenoble to Briancon via la Grave is still under repair, meant to be finished 16th July?? There is the temporary road but even when it is open the signs say shut (its more for local to get to work) a bugger if you have driven up from grenoble to find it is actually shut

That is the same single-lane diversion that we used last year to go between Briancon and Grenoble - no guarantee that it's open for use. Also worth noting that it's a 3.5 ton limit, so theoretically the minibus cannot officially use it (and would be a cause for being fined if caught, remote as that may be).

Also on the same road at the moment is this from ViaMichelin with another weight limit at La Grave, the next village to the east from the tunnel.

Further information with this PDF

[Cathal]

Any vehicles passing through the Grenoble region this summer will need to have certain vignettes defining the air pollution class of the vehicle, or there wil lbe fines levied on the driver. This affects us as we will be passing through here when coming back from the Briancon region no matter which route we take either Gap or the Lac du Chambon tunnel detour. The areas affected are Paris, Lyon, and Grenoble. The Grenoble region does in fact include the Autoroutes traversing the region - it's not just the urbanised area.

New Law for Driving in France - Deadline date 31st March 2017
The French government have launched a new scheme for all cars driving in Paris and other French cities (currently Lyon and Grenoble) which will include non-French registered cars.
From 31/03/2017 your car needs to display an emissions sticker showing the age and cleanliness of your vehicle.
If your vehicle does not display the sticker you could face hefty on the spot fines.
The anti-pollution sticker can only be ordered on-line from the official Crit’ Air website
http://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr

http://fr.urbanaccessregulations.eu/userhome/map shows that the Grenoble valley is a region that is affected by this rule - further defined by information here: http://urbanaccessregulations.eu/countr ... ncy-scheme

~€70 fine for a car, €135 for a bus, both possible to be on-the-spot.

Vignettes cost ~€5 to order and I've got mine on the way in case I bring my car to Europe at any stage this summer.

[OisinHiggins]

The bus and Sprinter are likely to be in France this summer and coming summers. If we make Michelle aware she may be able to order them and have them in ready for us before we get to France.

[Cathal]

http://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/forecasts,langen.html "Bison Futé"
This one has lots of useful information about the current state of the French road system, as well as forecasts for the expected traffic densities around France for various days into the future.
Wed May 24 and Thu 25th are expected to be very difficult for traffic around the country.
Sun 28th also a very difficult day on the roads.
June 6th (as we head for the boat) will also be a heavy traffic day.

[Cathal]

Quick one about current diesel prices in the Continent for the trip.

Caen Carrefour has diesel at €1.145 cents per litre - http://www.carrefour.fr/magasin/caen, compared to maybe €1.259 in Rosslare

General comparison as of today Friday 12th:

Code: Select all

Ireland  1.28
France   1.22
Italy    1.43
Slovenia 1.17

The autoroutes will definitely be up to 10 cent dearer, and the hypermarkets should be a few cent cheaper.

Worth noting for deciding whether to fill in Rosslare, Cherbourg, or Caen..