In Paris, Anne Hidalgo gives up reducing the speed on the ring road immediately

Motorists can rejoice: when the ring road is not saturated, they will be able to continue to perform a few bursts of speed. In the immediate future, Anne Hidalgo no longer intends to lower the maximum speed to 50 km / h on the Grand Boulevard which surrounds Paris. “That may come later”but “That’s not the topic today”said the mayor of the capital, Wednesday, May 18, presenting her plans to transform this urban highway inherited from the 1970s.

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Between the two rounds of the municipal elections of 2020, the socialist candidate had however made the reduction in speed on the “periph” a flagship measure of her common program with environmentalists. Going from a maximum of 70 km/h to just 50 km/h was presented as a decisive means of“appease” the ring road, to limit accidents and to fight against air and noise pollution from which hundreds of thousands of residents suffer. It was a question of transforming without delay the long snake of 35 kilometers into a classic boulevard, with traffic lights, easy to cross for pedestrians. “In six years, it’s playable”pleaded then Jean-Louis Missika, one of the main assistants of Anne Hidalgo, who imagined reducing the speed from the first year of the new mandate.

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In reality, the crisis linked to Covid-19, then the presidential campaign delayed decisions. Above all, the elected officials measured the extent to which the project to reduce the speed went badly in public opinion, and risked encountering opposition. Today, the town hall still emphasizes that “130,000 residents are exposed to pollution levels above the ceilings of European standards”. However, the issue of speed has been ruled out. “We must move forward by first using the points of consensus”argues David Belliard, the assistant ecologist in charge of transport.

1 million vehicles circulating per day

Priority thus goes to the less divisive idea of ​​better organizing the use of the device. First step: during the 2024 Summer Olympics, a lane will be reserved for the vehicles of the athletes and all those who gravitate around the event. The State has given its consent, and a decree has just been published. A system of cameras that would read the license plates of authorized vehicles is under study.

The next step, mentioned by the mayor of the capital, will consist, by 2030, of eliminating a few lanes

Once the Games are over, this route should be made permanent and reserved for carpooling, taxis and public transport. Today, 1 million vehicles travel daily on the boulevard. On board, 82% are single people. A reserved lane of this type is already in place during rush hour on the A48, 10 kilometers upstream from Grenoble. In North America, this practice has existed since the 1970s. In Europe, Spain adopted it in the late 1990s, in particular to ease the entry of Madrid. For this route, so-called “intelligent” cameras would be needed, which would count the number of people on board.

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