Anne Hidalgo already on the offensive. In an interview with the newspaper Ouest-France this Saturday, the mayor (PS) of Paris specified the outlines of what would change in the capital after the Paralympic Games on September 8. Ring road, pedestrianization of the area around the Eiffel Tower, Olympic route…
Among them, the mayor notably reaffirmed her desire to lower the speed limit on the Paris ring road to 50 km/h from the fall, “during October”. The project, announced at the end of November 2023, was one of the strong points of the “legacy” of the Olympic and Paralympic Games desired by the City of Paris. “It is a public health measure for the 500,000 people who live near the ring road”, justified Anne Hidalgo.
The elected official specified that she had also asked Emmanuel Macron “not to go back” on the sanctuarization of the Olympic route after the Games, in order to reserve it for carpooling. “I will take my responsibilities” in the event of the State’s refusal, warned Anne Hidalgo.
On the ring road, the police headquarters will have to decide
From the very first announcements, the plan to reduce speed on this strategic axis had been singled out by the Parisian opposition, but also by Clément Beaune, former Minister of Transport, and then by his successor, Patrice Vergriete. “I am not in favour of the debate as it stands,” he declared in May. “It is an extremely poorly framed debate. There are 80% non-Parisians on the ring road. We must stop stigmatising people who are forced to take their cars,” justified the current Minister of Transport who has resigned.
At the end of May, the president (Libres!) of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, had also expressed her opposition to the move to 50 km/h, and asked the government for the possibility of regaining competence in this matter.
If lowering the authorized speed is indeed a competence of the City, the police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, could play the role of arbiter: last May, he reminded the elected officials of the Paris Council that they would need his green light to perpetuate the carpooling lane, but also for the increase to 50 km/h, the prefect having the possibility of issuing prescriptions in this area. “We will move forward in compliance with the law,” promised Anne Hidalgo.
“Cars will not return to the Eiffel Tower after the Games”
Popular during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the closures of the Iéna Bridge and the Place de Varsovie to car traffic will be maintained after September 8, the elected official also assured Ouest-France. Only one service road will be maintained, particularly for emergency vehicles.
“Cars will not return to the Eiffel Tower at the end of the Games. That is very clear,” justified the mayor of Paris. “As requested by the prefecture, and this is normal, we will allow the passage of security and emergency vehicles by creating a lane reserved for them as well as for buses and taxis. There will also be a cycle path. We will also give back space to pedestrians, Place de Varsovie.”
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