The A79 autoroute (''La Bourbonnaise'') is a motorway in central

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Opened in November 2022, it connects the

A71 autoroute The A71 autoroute is a motorway in central France. It is also called ''l'Arverne''. It starts at Orléans and ends at Clermont-Ferrand. Orléans to Bourges The autoroute is 2x2 lanes and is operated by the Société Cofiroute (Orléans-Bourg ...

near Sazeret with Moulins and

Digoin Digoin () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The junction of the '' Canal du Centre'' and the '' Canal latéral à la Loire'' is near Digoin. Geography The river Bourbinc ...

.The A79 motorway
Autoroute de Liaison Atlantique Europe. Retrieved 10 January 2023. It is being extended to the

A6 autoroute The A6, also known as the Autoroute du Soleil, ''Motorway of the Sun'', (along with the A7), is an Autoroute in France, linking Paris to Lyon. The motorway starts at Paris's Porte d'Orléans and Porte d'Italie with two branches, numbered A6a an ...

near

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M� ...

, which is expected to be completed in 2023. The A79 is an upgrade of the Route nationale 79 to motorway standards. A79 was also the code for a projected motorway between the

A432 autoroute The A432 autoroute is a motorway in Lyon, France. It connects the A46 autoroute, A46 with the A42 autoroute, A42 and A43 autoroute, A43 serving the airport ''Lyon Saint-Exupéry''. With the northern segment of the A46 it allows the traffic Par ...

(

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

-Saint-Exupéry Airport) to

A9 autoroute The A9 autoroute (La ''Languedocienne''/''La Catalane'') is a motorway in southern France. The road forms part of the European route E15, as does the A9 road (Scotland). The road runs between Orange and Perthus, in the Pyrénées-Orientales ...

A61 autoroute The A61 autoroute is a French motorway forming part of the ''Autoroute de Deux Mers''. It is long. It connects Narbonne (and a junction on A9) and Toulouse, where it becomes the A62 towards Bordeaux. It also has junctions with the A64 towards ...

(

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...

) via Valence,

Aubenas Aubenas (; oc, Aubenàs) is a commune in the southern part of the Ardèche department in Southern France. It is the seat of several government offices. The mountainous and rugged countryside is popular for vacation homes. The river Ardèche flo ...

and

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie regions of France, region in southern France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, su ...

. A public inquiry into "Transport in the Rhone Valley and Languedoc Coast" was held between 27 March and 26 July 2006. This new road would avoid the widening of the

A7 autoroute The A7 Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Soleil (English: the Motorway of the Sun) is a French motorway. It continues the A6 and links Lyon to Marseille. The autoroute du Soleil is long and forms part of European routes E15, E80, and ...

to 2×5 lanes between

/ Valence and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and would offer a credible alternative for traffic to the Rhone Valley. It would serve a host of new communities in several departments (Ardèche, Haute Gard, Haute Vallée de Hérault) would be served: Privas, Aubenas, Alès, Le Vigan. The cost estimated in 2005 was 3.4 billion euros (as a comparison, the widening of the A7 and A9 would cost 1.5 billion euros).

References

A79 {{france-road-stub