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The Loire in Nantes on a bright day with scattered clouds: a row of pale stone quayside buildings with grey slate roofs and a white church dome topped by a spire, a metal footbridge leading down to a pontoon where small fishing boats and a white motorboat are moored, all reflected in the calm water

France

Nantes

Photo: Thanh Ly, Pexels License, Pexels

Nantes has just opened the new deck of the Anne-de-Bretagne bridge, set to become the widest in Europe, and is building busway line 8 for September 2027, while Nantes Métropole rolls out 2,400 shared e-bikes across its 24 communes, prepares a metropolitan express rail service and builds a biomass heating network in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre.

Updated · Checked against official sources

  • Population

    327,734

    2023

  • Mayor

    Johanna Rolland, also President of Nantes Métropole

  • EU programmes

    6

Latest

No verified news in recent months. We are watching the city’s official sources.

City briefs are drafted with AI from official sources; every fact is checked against the source text before an editor approves it.

Projects we track

6 projects · 1 completed · 4 under way

    1. Planned
    2. Funded
    3. Under way
    4. Completed

    Anne-de-Bretagne bridge: widened for trams, bikes and walkers

    The new part of the bridge between the quai de la Fosse and the Île de Nantes opened to pedestrians and cyclists on 23 October 2026, with a timber-decked promenade jutting out over the Loire as a viewpoint and a planted linear garden; cars follow south to north by the end of November. Works now move to the original bridge, to be lowered and strengthened to carry a two-way cycle track, planted walkways and the new tram track, with full opening around the end of 2027, when it will be the widest bridge in Europe.

    Mobility

    Status checked 23 October 2026 · Source

    1. Planned
    2. Funded
    3. Under way
    4. Completed

    Busway line 8

    A 25 km busway line from La Ville-au-Denis in Bouguenais to Thouaré-sur-Loire, via Rezé, the Île de Nantes, the future hospital and Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire, is due in September 2027 to link the outskirts directly with each other and with central Nantes; its construction comes with a complete redesign of the streets it crosses, with cycle lanes, pavements and new planting.

    Mobility

    Status checked 23 October 2026 · Source

    1. Planned
    2. Funded
    3. Under way
    4. Completed

    Shared e-bikes in all 24 communes

    From 19 October 2026 the new operator VOI is rolling out, in three phases until January 2027, 2,400 electric-assist bikes (twice the old fleet) at 658 stations (against 123 before) in every commune of the Métropole, instead of three; 96% of residents will live within 500 metres of a station, with lighter bikes, cargo bikes, a social fare and 60 e-scooters from April 2027.

    Mobility

    Status checked 23 October 2026 · Source

    1. Planned
    2. Funded
    3. Under way
    4. Completed

    Metropolitan express rail service (SERM) Nantes Saint-Nazaire

    Labelled by the State in June 2024, the "metropolitan RER" promises trains every 30 minutes at peak times by 2030-2035, backed by express coaches, car-pool lanes and cycle routes. On 2 October 2026 the metropolitan council approved two rail studies under the 2021-2027 State-Region plan: modernising signalling around Nantes (€45.56m, €2.9m from the Métropole) and a more frequent Nantes-Pornic and Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie line (€7.5m of studies, works mid-2031 to end 2033).

    Budget 45,56 M€ (signalisation) ; 7,5 M€ (études Nantes-Pornic) Funded by Contrat de plan État-Région 2021-2027; Nantes Métropole (2,9 M€ and 750 000 €) Mobility

    Status checked 23 October 2026 · Source

    1. Planned
    2. Funded
    3. Under way
    4. Completed

    Mazaire biomass heating network, La Chapelle-sur-Erdre

    A wood-chip boiler house with 500 m of underground pipes, under construction until January 2027, will heat 10 public buildings (a secondary school, a primary school, a nursery, a gym) in place of ageing gas boilers, cutting their CO2 emissions by 70%, or 170 tonnes a year; it is one of 12 new networks in the Métropole's heat network plan, and a residents' monitoring committee follows the project.

    Budget 2,1 millions d'euros Funded by Nantes Métropole; Ademe (587 000 €) Climate and energy

    Status checked 23 October 2026 · Source

    1. Planned
    2. Funded
    3. Under way
    4. Completed

    Résidence Marianne: intergenerational housing in the former Mellinet barracks

    Opened in June 2026 and inaugurated on 6 October, the six-storey residence in the former Mellinet barracks brings together 81 care-home places for dependent elderly people, 10 flats for independent seniors and 10 low-rent student studios run by the Crous for nursing and medical students, with a ground-floor third place open to neighbourhood associations.

    Budget 18,5 millions d'euros Funded by Nantes Métropole support: 225 000 € Regeneration and housing

    Status checked 23 October 2026 · Source

EU programmes and networks

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