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Justin Pouyanne entered the École Polytechnique in November 1853, and was admitted to the École des Mines in October 1855. He was appointed Engineer 3rd class in July 1859, and served in Algeria from April 1859. He would spend all his career in Algeria. At his own request he was assigned to the Tlemcen district in 1859.
Pouyanne was promoted to Engineer 2nd class in February 1863 and Engineer 1st class in February 1869. Pouyanne transferred to Algiers in 1873 as engineer. He was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in February 1878 and appointed Chief Engineer 2nd class in June 1878.
The Trans-Saharan expedition was appointed in 1879 by Charles de Freycinet, Minister of Public Works, to investigate construction of a railway across the Sahara. Three possible routes starting from Oran in the west, Algiers in the center and Constantine in the east were to be examined by three expeditions. The western expedition was led by Justin Pouyanne and the central one was led by the engineer Auguste Choisy and included Georges Rolland.
Pouyanne was promoted to Chief Engineer 1st class in July 1883. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honour on 13 July 1892. Later, rather than leave Algeria he turned down a promotion to General Engineer. In 1897 the post of Inspector General for Algeria, based in Algiers, was created especially for him in recognition of his great merit. He retired in September 1900, and gave up the direction of the geological map, which he had been working on for 20 years.
