Rodez
Rodez is a small city and commune in the South of France, about northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania. Rodez is the seat of the communauté d'agglomération Rodez Agglomération, of the First Constituency of Aveyron as well as of the general Council of Aveyron.
Former capital of the Rouergue, the city is seat of the Diocese of Rodez and Vabres.
Geography
Location
Located in the south of France, in the heart of the triangle formed by Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand and Montpellier, in the western foothills of the Massif Central, the Rodez landscape is situated between the valleys and high plateaus of and the moist hills of Ségala. It extends into, with the communes of Onet-le-Château, Sainte-Radegonde, Le Monastère, Olemps and Luc-la-Primaube, which forms an agglomeration of 83,000 habitants adjoining the city of Rodez.Geology and landforms
The territory of Rodez is packed with geological diversity. It straddles the ancient base of Ségala composed of acidic siliceous soil of Les Rougiers consisting of red argillite, and causses composed of limestones and marls. The city was built on a conical isolated terrain, locally called Le Piton, and gradually spread to the surrounding slopes. It is located in a seismicity level 2 zone which is a low level.Hydrography
The Aveyron crosses the commune and is important for fishing. Green spaces are proposed for the Quarter, and the stream.Climate
Rodez has an oceanic climate, and is colder compared to other cities in the south of France. Winters are sharp and summers often very hot and sunny. During winter, Rodez has occasional snowfall due to its low altitude of in contrast to other towns in the north of the department closer to the higher Aubrac plateau.In 2011, with nearly 2,400 hours or 304 days of sunshine per year, Rodez was ranked 2,407th of French cities in terms of sunshine, significantly above the national average.
| City | Sunshine | Rain | Snow | Storm | Fog |
| Rodez | 2300 | 770 | 11 | 22 | 22 |
| National Average | 1973 | 770 | 14 | 22 | 40 |
| Paris | 1661 | 637 | 12 | 18 | 10 |
| Nice | 2724 | 733 | 1 | 29 | 1 |
| Strasbourg | 1693 | 665 | 29 | 29 | 53 |
| Brest | 1605 | 1211 | 7 | 12 | 75 |
On average, Rodez experiences 66.3 days per year with a minimum temperature below, 1.9 days per year with a minimum temperature below, 5 days per year with a maximum temperature below, and 16.4 days per year with a maximum temperature above. The record high temperature was on August 16, 1987 and June 27, 2019, while the record low temperature was on January 16, 1985.
Events based on the data of Météo-France at Millau Soulobres station, from 1965:
| Lowest temperature | |
| Coldest day | 16 January 1985 |
| Coldest year | 1980 |
| Highest temperature | |
| Hottest day | 30 July 1983 and 16 August 1987 |
| Warmest year | 1997 |
| Maximum rainfall in 24 hours | |
| Maximum snowfall in 24 hours | |
| Rainiest day | 26 September 1992 |
| Driest year | 1967 |
| Wettest year | 1969 |
On 28 January 2006, Rodez experienced an important snow episode. A metre of powdery snow accumulated, crippling the Let Piton economy for several days.
Transportation
Rodez is a growing city and an important economic engine in the Midi-Pyrénées since the early 2000s. Its location on, the Toulouse-Lyon axis, is essential to its economic and tourist development and plays a vital role for Rodez, as it is a connection to regional cities such as Toulouse, Albi and Castres, with which it is developing collaborations.As of 2005, the Aveyron department continues to improve its regional connectivity. The Rodez ring road, which surrounds the agglomeration of is gradually being converted to a dual carriageway urban boulevard and improving Rodez as a strategic location. Future plans call for the entire ring road to be a dual carriageway as part of the 2014-2018 plan. Three grade separated roundabouts are planned as part of the dualing urban boulevard project: Moutiers, La Gineste and Saint-Marc. A major bypass is also proposed but without a specific deadline.
In 2009, the Rodez-Aveyron Airport expanded its terminal and introduction of new international scheduled destinations.
Local transportation options include car rentals and the local bus system. The city centre, with its cobblestone streets lined with ancient buildings hundreds of years old, is pedestrian friendly.
Routes
Railway lines
is at the crossing point of rail lines from , Albi along the and . The rail network has undergone numerous restructurings, including the plan rail Midi-Pyrénées. Between 2009 and 2013, replacement of rails, the rehabilitation of structures, replacement of information systems traffic operations on the Rodez-Toulouse and Rodez-Paris lines have resulted in network improvement. Additionally, the region was equipped with new TER trains in 2013 that are faster and more comfortable.Main roads
Rodez is situated along , transformed in the Rodez area into an urban boulevard to allow the flow of traffic totalling 35,000 vehicles per day. are buried to assess traffic for transcription by real-time traffic maps. The portion of this highway, declared a national priority in 1993 between Rodez and Albi, is currently in the process of restructuring with the doubling of the carriageways, after decades of studies and that since 18 October 2010, date of the official launch of this vast site.A portion of the RN88 road between Rodez and Carmaux should be completely converted into a dual carriageway expressway and put into service in 2018, thus allowing a virtually seamless dual carriageway journey between Rodez and Toulouse. Indeed, the A68 has been in service between Albi and Toulouse for several years. As of 2018, the RN88 which is an extension of the A68 will then almost all be dual carriageway, thus reducing the time between Rodez and Toulouse. Note that this axis is one of the largest in the Midi-Pyrénées in terms of traffic. As for the portion of the RN88 between Rodez and Sévérac-le-Château, this last link is missing dual carriageway, studies are underway but work will not begin before 2020 due to lack of credits granted. At the end of this work, the entire journey will be converted into dual carriageway between Rodez and the principal cities around the Mediterranean.
Furthermore, the segment of the city between Espalion and Rodez underwent a restructuring with the diversion of Curlande commissioned in 2011. A bypass project of the town of Espalion is ongoing since the beginning of this year towards the west of the Lot Valley and Aurillac. With the RN88 which is the most important artery of the agglomeration, Rodez is the focal point of several routes from its own department or bordering departments:
- The which provides access to Albi, Castres, Montpellier, Toulouse to the south and Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Orléans, Paris and also Millau, Sète, Béziers, Narbonne and Perpignan to the north. Rodez is located from the A75
- The reaches the International Airport of Rodez-Aveyron, Decazeville, Figeac, Brive then the A20 to Limoges, Tours, Orléans and Paris
- The joins to Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Cahors, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, then the autoroute to Bordeaux.
| Place | Distance | Average travelling time |
| Toulouse | 1 hrs 50 mins | |
| Montpellier | 2 hrs 00 mins | |
| Perpignan | 2 hrs 50 mins | |
| Clermont-Ferrand | 2 hrs 40 mins | |
| Bordeaux | 3 hrs 45 mins | |
| Marseille | 4 hrs 00 mins | |
| Lyon | 4 hrs 15 mins | |
| Nice | 5 hrs 00 mins | |
| Paris | 6 hrs 00 mins |
Transport network
Rail
The railway station of Rodez, located on Avenue du Maréchal Joffre, is the main station of Aveyron. There are daily trains to Paris and Toulouse, as well as other trains and buses connecting Rodez to smaller towns. It serves Paris-Austerlitz, Toulouse-Matabiau, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Millau, Montpellier and other stations of the department and bordering departments. In addition, it is noted that many other large French cities can be reached by the connections in Toulouse and Brive. The lines and railway infrastructure have undergone important renovations with the complete change of the rails, the modernisation of technical systems and structures as well as the implementation of new systems of traffic management. In the next few years, the aim is for a time of 1 hour 45 minutes from Rodez to Toulouse and 4 hours 50 minutes from Rodez to Paris through the LGV Poitiers-Limoges.In the past, the Rodez and Aveyron rail network was part of the company of the Chemins de fer du Midi. Formerly, there was a second station, that of "Paraire" below the current Lycée Foch, close to the city centre but closed in the 1970s. Today, there is no service there.