Gilbert Cesbron, author of “It is Midnight, Doctor Schweitzer,” once said, “Sometimes a tree humanizes a landscape better than a man would.” The desire to humanize the Nice Tramway line has driven the City of Nice and the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolitan Community. Enhancing the 8.5 km of tracks guided them. It is evident, and the [artworks](https://www.nicepremium.fr/article/a-nice-un-tramway-nomme-art-.1413.html) that will mark the route and the 1200 trees planted all along prove it.
“Only 1199 more to go!” announces Senator Mayor Jacques Peyrat, sleeves rolled up, shovel in hand, covering the roots of the first silver lime tree erected on Avenue Jean Médecin at the intersection with Avenue Pastorelli. There will be 23 more before the tram is operational. It is 3 PM. The sun is shining. Onlookers observe the Senator Mayor. They congratulate, mock, or show indifference. It doesn’t matter. For the CANCA and the city council, this event is symbolic. The media are present. A message must be relayed: thanks to the “green tram plan,” 1,200 trees will be planted in place of the 800 removed for construction needs or due to their poor condition. The trees have been chosen to withstand the climate and will be enhanced by lighting. The saying goes that money doesn’t grow on trees. Yet, their roots have a cost. The operation amounts to €20,160.
The tree (and its planting) hides the forest. The forest is the final touch of the tramway works. The first linden tree planted on Avenue Médecin symbolizes it. In December, the tram was presented and displayed to the public. The 8.5 kilometers of rails appear. The names of the stations have been chosen. Tuesday will begin the work to install a slab that will cover the archaeological excavations of the Nice Côte d’Azur tramway.
Not far from the ceremonial setting of Avenue Jean Médecin, the real workers labor. They make jackhammers resonate and excavators and backhoe loaders roar. They hustle and sweat. Soon, they will be able to proudly watch the tram roll through the boulevards of the French Riviera’s capital and say, “It was us who did it.”
Week after week, as Lapalisse would say, and through mini-events after mini-events, we approach the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the period when the Nice tramway will be put into service. It is by observing the visible progress of the work that the people of Nice can sense the end of the hardships it has caused.
