the Place du Trocadéro soon to be completely reopened to traffic?

While part of the Place du Trocadéro was pedestrianized for the Olympic Games, the police prefect, responsible for the area, ordered the city of Paris to remove the concrete blocks.

If some have become accustomed to pedestrianization in Paris since the Olympic Games, the situation could once again change on the Trocadéro side. “The prefect of police reminded the mayor of Paris by letter of September 25, 2024, of the need to restore the place (of the Trocadéro) as a whole. That is to say, to free up traffic on the southern bar”, explained Elise Lavielle, sub-prefect and representative of the police prefect during the Paris Council this Wednesday, October 9 evening.

As part of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Place du Trocadéro received temporary development authorization from the police headquarters, in particular to allow the construction of a dozen television studios for the media.

Traffic was therefore organized in the shape of a horseshoe with the closure of the southern bar, that is to say the road which passes between the Place du Trocadéro and the Esplanade des Droits de l’Homme.

The town hall wants to perpetuate

The Paris town hall hoped to be able to perpetuate this operation, which was part of the One project presented several years ago. The town hall’s wish is to green the Trocadéro esplanade.

But the closure was only planned between May and September, because the favorable opinion from the police prefect to develop the place only concerned the period of the Games. Since then, Laurent Nuñez, the police chief, has asked for the square to be returned to traffic.

Especially since the police chief is responsible for the Place du Trocadéro. It is one of the areas in Paris where traffic and parking can be regulated, due to sensitive sites nearby.

A formal notice

The prefect of police also sent a “letter of formal notice at the beginning of the week to remove the concrete blocks which close the southern bar to traffic and which also hinder deliveries from the museums located on the Rights of the Man,” continued Elise Lavielle.

For her part, Agnès Evren, co-president of the Union Capitale group and elected representative of the 15th arrondissement, attacked the town hall, ensuring that it “gave instructions to install blocks and not reopen traffic on the Place du Trocadéro even though the police headquarters is competent in this matter and has not given its prior agreement.”

“How can we take a disastrous decision unilaterally and without prior consultation,” she asks.

The first socialist deputy to the mayor of Paris replied: “we are going to take time”. And to ensure that there will be “consultation with the neighborhood councils”.

For her part, Elise Lavielle said she was in favor of a consultation group as well as a working group with the elected officials concerned in order to continue discussions on the subject and find a solution.