Route des Crêtes


Route des Crêtes is an road in the Vosges Mountains in eastern France, which passes through the Parc Naturel Régional des Ballons des Vosges. It connects Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines with Cernay and runs on the border of the departements of Haut-Rhin and Vosges. Most of the route is at an elevation in excess of, with the highest point being at the Col du Grand Ballon. The road is generally open from April to November, but most of the route is closed in the winter by snow.

History

The ridge forms part of the boundary between the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France. In 1871, Alsace was ceded to Germany under the Treaty of Frankfurt, and thus the ridge formed the boundary between France and Germany.
During the First World War, the French military decided to create a road to follow the ridge, thus allowing easier access to the valleys on both sides, enabling the faster movement of French troops. The route was mostly just below the ridge to the west and was thus protected from German gunfire.

Description of route

From Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines , the Route des Crêtes is accessed via D48 and Col des Bagenelles, which leads to the Col du Bonhomme, on the route connecting Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and Colmar.
The route continues south via the Col de Louchbach to the Col de Calvaire, where it enters the department of Vosges. The route then passes the Gazon du Faing from where there is a panoramic view stretching to the Black Forest across the Rhine valley in Germany and the Hohneck, Petit Ballon and Grand Ballon summits in the Vosges mountains.
From here the road then crosses the Col de la Schlucht, which connects Gérardmer with Colmar. Near here, there is the Jardin d'altitude du Haut Chitelet. Now the D430, the road then passes the Hohneck mountain from where there are also panoramic views.
After passing the Kastelberg, Rainkopf and Rotherbachkopf peaks in quick succession, the road returns to the Haut-Rhin department before it crosses the Cols du Herrenberg and Hahnenbrunnen on the way to the winter resort of Le Markstein.
The road then reaches its highest point at the Col du Grand Ballon, before passing the Col Amic on the descent to Cernay. En route, it passes the ruins of Freundstein Chateau, which at an altitude of is the highest castle in Alsace, and the Hartmannswillerkopf military cemetery at Vieil Armand.

Traffic management

The route has become popular with walkers, cyclists, motorbikers and motorcaravanners. In 2000, a shuttle bus was introduced to carry walkers onto the ridge road in an attempt to reduce the pressure from the use of cars; this was not successful and the bus service was withdrawn in 2012. In 2008, a comprehensive report on the traffic problems was published by the park authority. Environmental groups were calling for partial closure of the road to prevent over-crowding especially during summer weekends, which often resulted in road accidents. The report's author, J.-P. Monet considered the conflicting environmental and economic issues. His report offered no real solutions but concluded:
Je souhaite aux acteurs... de trouver le chemin de la concertation et d’arriver à créer un réseau coopératif leur permettant de valoriser ce magnifique site dans un climat apaisé.

With effect from 1 May 2012, a speed limit of 70 km/h was introduced on the sections of the road in the Haut-Rhin department, between the Col des Bagenelles and Uffholtz. At present, a similar speed limit has not been imposed by the Vosges department covering the central section of the route. A proposal has also been put forward to close the road entirely to motor vehicles, other than public transport, on at least one day a week.