The president of the Île-de-France region denounces a “unilateral” decision by Paris city hall to keep the Olympic lanes after the competition to make them reserved lanes, particularly on the ring road.
A series of decisions that are far from unanimous. While Anne Hidalgo had recently announced, in an interview with our colleagues at Ouest-France, her intention to lower the speed limit on the Paris ring road to 50 km/h “during October”, elected officials in the region have already made their disagreement with this measure heard.
The president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, pointed out to Le Parisien a decision without much interest, since “the reality is that there are not many times during the day when we drive at more than 50 km/h, given the traffic jams”.
“A denial of democracy”
Beyond the reduction in speed on this major Parisian axis, the regional president is especially opposed to the desire announced by the mayor of Paris to keep the Olympic lanes set up for the Olympic Games after the competition, in order to make them reserved for carpooling, public transport and emergency vehicles.
“This is a denial of democracy that is taking place,” denounces Valérie Pécresse, who points out that “90% of those consulted” had given an unfavourable opinion on this project, and that a “consultation without a vote” by the town hall had also obtained “80%” of unfavourable responses.
The regional president denounces a “unilateral decision without an impact study” by the Paris city hall, and fears that the creation of these reserved lanes will cause “thrombosis of the Île-de-France”, with a transfer of traffic to other routes.
In which case the measure put forward by the Paris city hall to reduce air pollution would not even have the desired effect, believes Valérie Pécresse: “With this measure, we are not going to reduce pollution, but move it.”
The regional president took the opportunity to point out unfinished projects by Paris city hall that could actually help reduce pollution, such as the asphalt on the ring road that “hasn’t been resurfaced for years”, or the plans to cover the boulevard, which “the city has never followed up on”.
Valérie Pécresse says that if the State supports the Paris city hall in its project concerning the Olympic routes, she will ask that “reversibility be included in the project”, believing that “we must be able to go back” on the decision of the municipality. She also does not rule out taking legal action in the event of “calamitous consequences”, explaining that she will not hesitate to attack the city for “failure to conduct an impact study”.
