Croisette: the surface works begin, a sector by sector site through to the end of 2028
Translated from French. After the widened beaches and the modernised underground networks, the Croisette renovation enters its visible phase: the surface works began in mid-October, after MIPCOM, between rue Macé and boulevard Alexandre III. Two phases of works, traffic maintained from west to east and, at the end of the site, 692 trees in open ground.
Translated from the French original. Lire en français
This is the part of the project Cannes residents will see, every day, for more than two years. According to the City of Cannes works in progress page, phase four of the Croisette renovation, the surface redevelopment, is now under way: the site began in mid-October 2026, after MIPCOM, and is being carried out simultaneously on four fronts. The first sector concerned runs between rue Macé and boulevard Alexandre III, to the east of the boulevard, following preparatory operations conducted between mid-September and mid-October.
This stage follows the widening of the beaches, carried out from 2017 to 2019, the renovation of the beach establishments and the restructuring of the underground networks, completed in spring 2024. It should have begun in autumn 2024: the municipality explains the postponement by additional State levies on municipal finances and by company bids judged too high. A fresh competitive tender made it possible to deliver the same project for 15 million euros less than the first bids received.
Two phases, a diversion and a pause for the Festival
The works are organised by sector, in two main phases. The first runs from autumn 2026 to summer 2027: it covers the section between rue Macé and rue du Canada on the south carriageway, then the section between rue du Canada and boulevard Alexandre III on the north carriageway. The second phase, from autumn 2027 to the end of 2028, will take up the same sections on the opposite carriageways and will include the stretch between rue Pasteur and rue du Docteur Zamenhof, as well as the sector between the Palais des Festivals and rue des Serbes. The forecast end of the site is set for the end of 2028, before later phases on the Pointe Croisette, the square de la Roseraie and the gardens of Port Canto.
Throughout the works, traffic is maintained on the Croisette in the west to east direction, with switchovers onto the side opposite the works. From mid-October, a diversion route is in place between rue Macé and rue Latour-Maubourg. The heaviest work on the pavements will be concentrated in the winter periods, and the site will pause in May for the Cannes Film Festival. In parallel, the Cannes Lérins Agglomeration will carry out, on the southern part of the sector between the Palais des Festivals and rue des Serbes, the work to connect the Palais to the thalassothermy network, through to April 2027, with traffic maintained on the north side.
A wider, greener, better lit promenade
The project, designed by the winning team of the international competition unveiled on 23 September 2022, the Atelier d’Urbanité Roland Castro together with the Snøhetta agency, provides for a more spacious pedestrian promenade surfaced in an Estérel colour, new furniture with wide benches and shade structures, widened and raised pedestrian crossings, and a two way cycle track, three metres wide and separated from traffic, linking the Palais des Festivals to the Roseraie and connected to the existing track on to Palm Beach, a continuity of 3.1 kilometres. Lighting will be renewed with LEDs, video protection reinforced, and the blue chairs will be kept.
The planting is the project’s other signature: when the works are complete, the Croisette will count 692 trees in open ground, with 295 additional plantings, including umbrella pines to develop the shaded areas. The 70 palm trees moved during the preparations will be kept in a nursery and then replanted on the boulevard, and the green spaces will be watered with groundwater from the Lamy municipal car park, to limit the use of drinking water.
