The Ile-de-France region announced on Tuesday 24 September a noise control plan to reduce noise pollution by 2030, particularly on the roads of the Ile-de-France region, including the ring road where the reduction of the maximum speed is controversial. The plan, which includes around twenty measures, has a budget of 100 million euros. Environmental associations deplore a plan that does not address the root of the problem, namely the massive use of cars.
The measures presented by the President of the Regional Council, Valérie Pécresse (LR), aim to reduce by 30% the exposure to noise pollution, particularly related to road noise, and to protect the 500,000 inhabitants of Île-de-France who suffer the most from it. According to a survey of 3,000 inhabitants of Île-de-France, 48% of the most annoying noises are related to transport, of which 32% to road traffic, 8% to air traffic and 3% to rail traffic, details Mme Pécresse during a press conference.
The regional plan will concentrate its efforts on the top hundred “blackheads” identified in all the departments of Île-de-France, more particularly in Hauts-de-Seine and Seine-Saint-Denis.
sound radars
Its objective is “Divide noise pollution by five” for residents of the 150 kilometres of noisiest roads, by encouraging the installation of noise barriers and sound-absorbing coatings on roads. “The financial commitments of the new State-Region plan contract will increase by 55% to reach 28 million euros”details the region.
Valérie Pécresse, headwinds against the decision of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to reduce the maximum speed to 50 km/h on the ring road from 1Ahem In October, compared to the current 70 km/h, he reiterated his proposal to finance half of the installation of new soundproofing coatings. Or 15 million euros. These road surfaces, he maintains, are more effective than reducing speed, but require renewal every ten years.
The region also plans to deploy one hundred “sound radars” against incivility, in particular by fining two-wheeled vehicles fitted with illegal exhaust pipes, which cause the most nuisance, stressed Olivier Blond, president of the Bruitparif observatory.
To reduce railway noise, financial commitments “It will double to reach 30 million euros”still within the framework of the new State-Region plan contract. “We are very disappointed by this plan, the distribution of funding for which is unclear. The region is focusing on the ring road, continues to invest a lot of money in roads and in the end does nothing to reduce the role of cars.”Kader Chibane, president of the environmental group in the regional council, where the plan will be voted on Thursday, told Agence France-Presse.
