PARIS (Reuters) – French authorities have decided to ease traffic restrictions planned during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games after several meetings with local elected officials, the Paris police chief announced on Friday.
“We want to disrupt the lives of Ile-de-France residents as little as possible, so we have relaxed the restrictions,” declared Laurent Nunez during a press conference.
“All the requests from local elected officials were accepted with the exception of one, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.”
The Paris police headquarters announced in November that competition sites would only be accessible to ticket holders while a security perimeter would be set up in the immediate vicinity of the events.
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Certain red zones, those prohibited to motorized traffic due to their proximity to the Olympic sites, have disappeared.
A digital platform, whose “opening is hoped for April”, will make it possible to obtain supporting documents attesting to the right to enter red zones. Emergency vehicles will be exempt.
More exemptions have been accepted to enter these red zones which will now also be accessible, among others, to healthcare vehicles, cash-in-transit vehicles or moving trucks.
With rare exceptions, buses will not be authorized in red zones, set up 2.5 hours before the events and lifted one hour later.
“If I see that the rules are not respected, I close the floodgates. The authorities have made an enormous effort by accepting exemptions but this will require a minimum of collective discipline,” warned Laurent Nunez.
(Written by Vincent Daheron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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