Rodez (, , ; , ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the Aveyron department in the Occitania region (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). In 2023 its population was 23,981. The capital of the former Rouergue province, Rodez is the seat of the communauté d'agglomération Rodez Agglomération, the Diocese of Rodez and Vabres, the Departmental Council of Aveyron, as well as the main settlement of the 1st constituency of Aveyron.
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 (Cfb), 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.
+ Comparison of weather conditions CitySunshine (hrs/yr)Rain (mm/yr)Snow (days/yr)Storm (days/yr)Fog (days/yr)Rodez2300770112222National Average1973770142240Paris1661637121810Nice27247331291Strasbourg1693665292953Brest1605121171275
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 (2018) 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 (Agglobus). The city centre (centre ville), with its cobblestone streets lined with ancient buildings hundreds of years old, is pedestrian friendly.
Routes
Railway lines Rodez station is at the crossing point of rail lines from (to Paris), Albi along the (destined for Toulouse) and (destined for Millau). 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 (route linking Toulouse to Lyon), transformed in the Rodez area into an urban boulevard [dual carriageways, many on and off sliproads, speed limited to between ] 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 (with the exception of the portion between Albi and Carmaux the route upgrading to motorway is envisaged but not programmed to date). 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 (then Aurillac by the and the ), 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 timeGoogle maps consulted 15 February 2013 Toulouse 1 hrs 50 mins (as of 2013) (1 hrs 15 mins in January 2016, by dual carriageway) Montpellier 2 hrs 00 minsPerpignan 2 hrs 50 minsClermont-Ferrand 2 hrs 40 minsBordeaux 3 hrs 45 minsMarseille 4 hrs 00 minsLyon 4 hrs 15 minsNice5 hrs 00 minsParis6 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 (Intercités), Toulouse-Matabiau (TER), Brive-la-Gaillarde (TER), Millau (TER and regional bus), Montpellier (bus with mandatory charging at Millau station) 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.
Road Rodez is the central point of numerous bus routes coming from the department or bordering departments. Indeed, there are currently nearly 60 routes.
Air
Rodez is served by the nearby Rodez Marcillac Airport, located within the commune of Salles-la-Source. The international airport of Rodez-Aveyron is the third airport of the Occitanie region after Toulouse and Tarbes, and the main platform of the south of the Massif Central, with direct scheduled flights to:
Paris-Orly Southampton Airport Dublin Bruxelles-Charleroi
Public transport The city has had a longstanding public transport system, the having circulated from 1902 to 1920. Nowadays, these journeys are made by buses. Agglobus is the transit network serving the communes of the , nearly 60,000 people, where a multiple purchase ticket shall not exceed €0.20. It allows service to the centre of Rodez from outside communes (and vice versa) before 8am with a time range for operation of the service between 7am (5am for some lines) and 8pm. These lines have scheduled timing. This network is complemented by an evening service that operates Monday to Saturday, from 8pm to 11:30pm, by a transport service scheduled running Monday to Saturday with two round trips per day, and for persons with reduced mobility which works at the same times as the bus network. The Rodez topography makes it difficult to create special lanes for buses. As such, the Agglobus network is equipped with a system of prioritisation at traffic lights and also a geolocation for buses.
Postal transport Rodez has had an operational sorting centre since July 2009. It receives about 400,000 letters every day and processes 14 per second. All of the letters posted from Rodez to a destination within the agglomeration and its own region are delivered the next morning. Courier services, international and domestic carriers are also present in Rodez. The city has three post offices with its central office located in the city centre, at Place Foch, near the cathedral. Other branches are located in the suburbs as well as in the Bourran Quarter. In addition, other communes forming the urban agglomeration of the Grand Rodez also have their post offices, including the Aveyron sorting centre located in the commune of Onet-le-Château.
Urban planning
Urban morphology