Half the surface area of Place de la Concorde in Paris “will not be returned to motorists after the Games” Olympic Games (JO), announced Mayor Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party) in an interview at La Tribune Sunday.
Six and a half months before the Summer Olympics, from July 26 to August 11, the mayor specifies that the largest square in the capital “will be offered to the walk from the Tuileries to the Obelisk” at the end of the Olympics. “Traffic is smoother by closing half of the place”she believes, adding that the “the place given to the car in this emblematic place will have been only a parenthesis in history”.
“Place de la Concorde, Trocadéro and Iéna (…)with the Champ-de-Mars, constitute 50 hectares of pedestrian and planted spaces for walking »she recalls, and “60 kilometers of additional cycle paths” will be put in place “compared to what we would have done without the Games”.
“Constraints” before an “unforgettable party”
Place de la Concorde will host the so-called urban sports events (BMX freestyle, breakdance, skateboarding and three-person basketball) of the Paris Olympics, as well as the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games (August 28 to September 8).
This place with degraded furniture and pavement – a recurring criticism addressed to Paris City Hall – had already hosted a fan zone of up to 10,000 people around its famous obelisk during the Rugby World Cup. The fountains in the square are undergoing renovation work.
On the infrastructure, the network of cycle paths, the reception of events on the Olympic sites, or even that of tourists, “I kept saying it: we are ready”underlines Anne Hidalgo, repeating that there is “other subjects, such as public transport, on which there is still work”.
For Parisians, “of course, there will be constraints with the installation of the Olympic sites, for some of them from March-April”, adds the city councilor. But “the Games in Paris will be an unforgettable celebration”she assures.