Route nationale 9
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The Route nationale 9, or RN9, is a trunk road (nationale) in France between Moulins in the Loire Valley and the frontier with Spain.
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[edit] Reclassification
Much of the route of the RN9 has now been/or in the process of being upgraded or replaced by the A75 autoroute in particular the section south of Clermont Ferrand to Béziers. Depending on which Department the road is in the old road is now numbered as various RD numbers.
[edit] Route
Moulins-Clermont Ferrand-Béziers- Narbonne - Perpignan - Spain
[edit] Moulins to Clermont Ferrand (0km to 103 km)
The road begins at Moulins with a junction with the RN7. The road heads Southwest over the River Allier. The road follows the West bank of the river to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule crossing the river and following it South. At Gannat the road meets the A719, which connects Vichy, 20 km to the East, and the A71 autoroute. The RN9 continues South to Riom and the volcanic region of Auvergne. The road is dual-carriageway for 10 km into the industrial city of Clermont-Ferrand.
[edit] Clermont Ferrand to Béziers (103km to 444km)
After Clermont the road heads through the Massif Central countryside. Much of the RN9 has now been upgraded or replaced by the A75 autoroute between Clermont-Ferrand and Pézenas [1].
The original RN9 has now been renumbered the RD909,RD809 and D2009 and passes through small villages and towns now bypassed by the autoroute La Méridienne which now takes the majority of through traffic. The route follows the upper Allier valley to Issoire before joining the Gorges de l'Allagnon and then climbing to cross the Col de Fageole (1114 m) and onto Saint-Flour and the Gorges de l’Ander. The old RN9 then follows the banks of the dammed River Truyére under the Viaduc de Garabit.
The countryside is very scenic consisting of rolling green wooded hills and steep sided river vallies. The road has a junction with the RN106 at Saint-Chély-d'Apcher. The road then crosses the Col des Issartets (1121 m) after which the former route of the RN9 passes to the East of the autoroute passing through the small town of Marvejols and into the the Lot valley.
The road then enters Causse country a series of barren limestone plateaux divided by deep river valleys. The road passes between the Causse de Sévérac and Causse de Sauveterre before reaching Sévérac-le-Château and the RN88 which heads to the West.
The road passes the Source of the Aveyron and into the Parc Natural Régional des Grandes Causses. After crossing the Col d'Engayresque (888 m) the RN9 re-appears and drops into the Gorges du Tarn and onto Millau where the road crosses the river and climbs up to the Causse du Larzac offering spectacular views of the valley and viaduct. The RN9 provides a trunk road route avoiding the toll on the Autoroute A75 as it crosses the valley on the spectacular Viaduc de Millau. The countryside is now barren and sun-baked. The RN9 has again been replaced by the A75 for this section.
At the Pas de l'Escalette just South of Le Caylar Roches the road enters a gorge leading South off the Causse du Larzac and on toward the coastal plain and the Mediterranean. Historically, RN9 used to cross the River Lergue at Pegairolles de l'Escalette and follow what is now the treacherous D149 and D151 right through the city of Lodève. After a series of improvements starting in the late 1960s, the road now stays on the left bank of the Lergue and by-passes Lodève through the Tunnel de la Vierge. It skirts the Lac du Salagou (which it once ran right through) before reaching Clermont L'Hérault and a junction with the RN109 to Montpellier. The RN9 demerges from the A75 autoroute again at Clermont-l'Hérault, and follows the Hérault Valley south to Pézenas. The roads run parallel to each other with a new extension of the A75 to Béziers and the A9 autoroute scheduled to be completed in 2008.
[edit] Béziers to Perthus (444km to 574km)
After Béziers the A9 autoroute runs parallel to the route of the RN9 and takes the majority of through traffic from Béziers. There the road crosses the Canal du Midi and River Orb and continues over the river Aube to Narbonne. The section south of Béziers is reclassified as the D6009. Thereafter the road heads along the Étang de Bages et de Sigean as the mountains push further East. The road is overlooked here by the Massif de Fontfroide and thereafter heads through the vineyards of Fitou. The road passes round the shores of the Étang de Leucate ou de Salses.
The road enters French Catalonia at the Fort de Sales. The road is downgraded to the D900 and passes through the plain of Rousillon to the city of Perpignan where it crosses the River Têt. The plain is dominated by the Pyrénées to the South and the Corbières mountains to North. It then passes Le Boulou where it enters the Monts Albères which form the Eastern ridge of the Pyrénées. The road climbs to the frontier at Le Perthus and the Col du Perthus where the road enters Spain. The road continues as the N-II/A-2 in Spain. The adjacent autoroute A9 becomes the Autopista AP-7.
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