The decision was taken following the Olympic Games, which successfully tested the pedestrianisation of the Jena Bridge.
THE Iéna bridge connecting the Eiffel Tower to the Palais de Chaillotpedestrianized since the Olympic Games, is permanently closed to car traffic with the exception of buses and taxis, according to a decree published Tuesday by the City of Paris which invokes the “special tourist dimension” of the site.
The permanent pedestrianization of this major traffic axis “corresponds to a need that we felt during the Olympic Games, where we saw lines of people wanting to have their pictures taken in front of the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower”Patrick Bloche, first deputy to the PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, told AFP. “We don’t want tourists to risk their lives there”added the socialist elected official.
The concrete blocks placed at the entrance to the bridge during the Games will soon be removed to allow traffic to pass. emergency vehicles, buses and taxison either side of a central pedestrian zone.
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The Iéna bridge, the municipal decree emphasizes, is “very busy with pedestrians and visitors to the sites it connects”the Eiffel Tower in the Champs-de-Mars park on the left bank of the Seine, the Palais de Chaillot in the Trocadéro gardens on the right bank. The number of people passing through there per day can reach 50,000, he says.
The site “therefore presents a particular tourist dimension which should be highlighted within the framework of a sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism model”adds the order.
The closure to traffic should allow “cross the Seine in complete safety while enjoying a remarkable visual perspective on the most visited monuments in Paris”.
Small Olympic rings were temporarily hung on the Jena bridge this weekend, like a “wink” to the large rings installed on the Eiffel Tower, which Anne Hidalgo wants to maintain until 2028.
