Tire for heavy vehicles, comprising a layer of circumferential reinforcing elements consisting of a central part and two axially external parts

A tire with radial carcass reinforcement, the tire comprising radially outward of the carcass reinforcement a crown reinforcement formed of at least two working crown layers of inextensible reinforcing elements, crossed from one layer to the other and making angles of between 10° and 45° with the circumferential direction, and itself radially capped by a tread, said tread being connected to two beads by two sidewalls, the crown reinforcement comprising a layer of circumferential metal reinforcing elements;

• wherein the layer of circumferential reinforcing elements includes a central part and two axially outermost parts;
• wherein the reinforcing elements of the central part of the layer of circumferential metal reinforcing elements are reinforcing elements that are cut into sections;
• wherein the length of the sections is less than 550 mm;
• wherein the distance between the ends of two consecutive sections is greater than 25 mm;
• wherein the length of the sections is between 1.1 and 13 times the distance between the ends of two consecutive sections;
• wherein the reinforcing elements of the two axially outermost parts are continuous;
• wherein the layer of circumferential metal reinforcing elements comprises a region of transition between the central part and each axially outermost part;
• wherein said transition regions each comprise at least one metal reinforcing element;
• and
• wherein the width, measured in the axial direction, of each of said transition regions is at least equal to 1.5 mm, each transition region having a circumferential rigidity intermediate between that of the central part and that of the adjacent axially outermost part.