La Politique routière en France de 1716 à 1815

Road planning in france between seventeen sixteen and eighteen fiveteen

• Auteur / Autrice : Jean-Marcel Goger
• Direction : Jean-Claude Perrot
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Histoire
• Date : Soutenance en 1988
• Etablissement(s) : Paris, EHESS

Mots clés

Mots clés libres

Histoire

16-17-18emes siecles revolution francaise. Empire economie

Route

Communications terrestres

Revolution francaise

Premier empire

Ponts-et-chaussees

Résumé

Pressee par les economistes, la regence cree les ponts-et-chaussees et commence a consolider les grands chemins, afin d'accroitre leur capacite commerciale. L'entreprise, amplifiee par louis quinze, est decriee par les philosophes, car elle delaisse les campagnes, tout en usant de la corvee paysanne et des expropriations gratuites. Sensible a ces griefs, louis seize edicte un programme vicinal, transforme la corvee en impot et regionalise l'amenagement. Plus hardie, la constituante indemnise les expropries, departementalise la gestion et accentue l'equite de la contribution routiere. Les deboires financiers detruisent cependant les intentions: la convention recentralise et requiert les riverains sur les voies militaires. Le directoire s'epuise a creer une taxe peagere pour l'entretien des chaussees. Plus solvable, le consulat herite de routes delabrees. Il endigue les degradations au moyen de la taxe directoriale et de subventions. L'empire relance les constructions d'ouvrages au moyen d'une taxe sur le sel, de credits de soutien et de centimes locaux. Fragmentaire, le sauvetage napoleonien rationalise durablement l'organisation des travaux.

Pressed upon by the economists, the regency started consolidating the high ways in order to increase their trading capacity. This undertaking was developed by louis the fifteenth but decried by the philosophers because it took no account of the country and yet made use of the ''corvee'' and of expropriations without compensation. Louis the sixteenth enacted a local road policy, turning the ''corvee'' into taxes and reorganising the scheme on a local basis. The constituent assembly went even further, paying compensations to those who had been expropriated, giving the management to the departement authorities, and organising road taxes with greater fairness. And yet financial set-backs put an end to those noble designs. The national convention recentralised and summoned the people to maintain the military roads. Finally, turnpike-roads appeared in the last years of the directory. Although the roads were in a sad condition at the beginning of the consulate, a sound financial position enabled this government to stop the wear by means of tolls and subventions. Under the empire, a tax on salt, special supplies and local duties enabled road-building to start anew: road-planning was from then on organised on a rational basis.