The Activity of The Technical Services of The Town of Grenoble

The organization of the Olympic Games necessitated important adaptations of the urban road systems. The work was planned and executed so that it could be integrated in the town planning and the structural schemes of the Grenoble conurbation.

The whole of this work entailed the creation of 17 kms of new roads: 47,000 metres of kerb, 34,000 metres of guttering, 300,000 square metres of surfacing, 12,000 metres of drains.
The cost of this work is about 32 million francs.

The service also collaborated in the study and drafting of specification files, the execution and financing of the equipment which was executed under the control of the Highway Department or the S.N.C.F. The town of Grenoble financed all this work which cost about 20 million francs.

THREE PROJECTS INTENDED FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION

Three projects intended for National Education were executed with the cooperation of the Technical Services and, in particular the Architectural Division.
These buildings were used for various purposes during the Olympic Games.
The total cost of these buildings was about 21 million francs.

475 ROAD SIGNS INSTALLED

The important projects were completed for the Opening of the Games, and the bye-laws concerning traffic during the Games had been approved by the Prefecture.

At the Opening of the Games, the traffic service of the town had to deal with three principal points:

— Installation of road signs on mobile supports, to publish the regulations of the municipal bye-laws.
— Supervision and repair day and night, of the traffic lights at 60 road junctions in the town of Grenoble.
— Information to the public on the traffic during the Games. 475 road signs were put in place by the end of the Games.

As a result of the organization by the Town of Grenoble, and the employment of an important police service, the traffic situation inside Grenoble was satisfactory during the Olympic period.

TEAMS ALWAYS ON CALL

The general organization of the maintenance service for the roads of the town had to be modified during the Olympic period.

Permanent duty teams, each consisting of a foreman, 8 men and 3 vehicles ensured the security service, day and night, in shifts of eight hours each. They were ready to cope with all kinds of incidents, such as snow falls, icy roads, road or pavement subsidence, oil or diesel oil on the roads after an accident, etc... These teams, put into service after 29th January 1968 worked until 19 February.

105 TONS OF HOUSE-HOLD REFUSE

During the Olympic period the Health Services of the town carried out the daily collection of the refuse of the Olympic Village and the Press Centre in hermetically sealed cans, and also the twice daily collection of refuse from the four Olympic restaurants.
This service was also carried out on Sundays.

As the Olympic Village and the Press Centre were enclosed, the dust bins had to be transported on trolleys to certain outlying points which were accessible to the vans.

Besides this a special service for the collection of cardboard boxes, and also bulky waste materials was operated every day.
The weight of all waste materials collected from the Olympic Village the Press Centre, and the 4 Olympic restaurants may be estimated at 8 tons per day.
For the period extending from 6th to 18th of February the total was about 105 tons.

THE CLEANING OF THE PUBLIC ROADS

The municipal road cleaning teams were doubled by teams from private firms. These firms took part in the cleaning every day including Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. during all the Olympic period.
A day duty service was also carried out during this period so that a cleaning team could be sent to any place where required.

France, Grenoble

In fact, all this material was in frequent use, not during the Olympic period, as no important snow fall took place, but during the preceding month. Very heavy continuous snow falls (altogether several metres thick) took place from the end of December, and the material and personnel only just available, were sorely tried while still training.

If these roads were always kept completely cleared, it was not the same for the third class roads and car parks, which were cleared with difficulty by means of rotary machines. They were made available only a few days before the Opening of the Games.

Approaches to ALPE-D'HUEZ

ALPE-d'HUEZ and DEUXALPES

Finally, at VIZILLE, a deviation of the national road, part of the urbanization plan since 1956, was also constructed so traffic from the BRIANÇON and GAP roads avoid the centre of VIZILLE. It was necessary because the transit traffic on some days exceeded 8,000 vehicles because of the development of the winter sports resorts of ALPE-d'HUEZ and DEUXALPES.

This work may seem modest compared to the equipment installed in many foreign tourist resorts. However, it represents an important effort by the government (28,6 MF) and the authorities of the department of the Isere (46,6 MF). The latter were particularly conscious that the investment was worth while and would benefit the prestige of the resorts of Dauphiné.

The Approach Roads to the Resorts

The second took the route Napoleon on leaving GRENOBLE (CD. 5 from GRENOBLE to VIZILLE by EYBENS) then an entirely new road, built by the department, joining BRIÉ-and-ANGONNE to URIAGE. So, CHAMROUSSE was served from GRENOBLE (Olympic Station) by a complete loop consisting of entirely renovated roads enlarged to 7 metres.

APPROACHES TO THE VERCORS

The events taking place on the VERCORS plateau, which had always specialised in Nordic events, were located in three distinct zones.

AUTRANS (33 kms from GRENOBLE) where the cross country events and 70 metres jump took place; VILLARD-de-LANS: (31 kms from GRENOBLE) where the Olympic Toboggan track was built; SAINT-NIZIER (16 kms from GRENOBLE) where the 90 metres ski jump was constructed.

The Urban Express Roads

The motorway U 2 links the motorway B 48 to the West, to the motorway A 41 to the East. This express road serves the Southern zone of GRENOBLE, as well as the communes of EYBENS, POISAT, ECHIROLLES and SAINT-MARTIN-d'HERES.

The General Council of the Isere decided for the Olympic Games, to carry out a section 6 kms long joining the N 75 (intersection Rondeau) to the N 523 (GIÈRES road) in the form of a single roadway 10.50 metres wide, which will constitute the northern lane of the future motorway.

This express road includes two junctions and four permanent spanning constructions. During the Games, this road carried the coach traffic to and from CHAMROUSSE and ALPE-d'HUEZ as well as serving the car park and the Olympic coach station.

The cost of this work amounted to 24 million francs, of which 11 millions were paid by the government, 11 millions by the department of the Isere and 2 millions by the town of Grenoble. The work began in May 1966 and it was ready for traffic in December 1967.