A fun place for a press conference. On Wednesday 11 September, some of the deputies of the mayor of Paris, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, met with journalists at the Porte de Vincennes, on one of the bridges that span the ring road. A block of buildings on the right, a block of buildings on the left and, in the middle, a stream of cars that circulate day and night on the urban road. The noise is incessant, punctuated by police sirens. “Here we have difficulty hearing each other because of the traffic. And people suffer from it every day, and especially every night.”says environmentalist David Belliard, deputy commissioner for transport.
In the controversy that followed Anne Hidalgo’s announcement on Monday, September 9, of the increase in the maximum speed on the ring road from 70 km/h to 50 km/h from 1Ahem In October, the aim of the deputies at the Paris City Hall was therefore to remind us concretely of these problems. “This measure will be effective in improving nighttime comfort. [des riverains]. Being able to sleep is a right”Belliard recalled.
“We have a strong willThe first deputy, Patrick Bloche, explained: limit the nuisance caused by the ring road, which affects half a million people living in the centre of Paris or in neighbouring municipalities: air pollution, noise pollution. » There is a 30% increase in asthma cases among children living less than 500 metres from the ring road, they explained. Not forgetting road safety: “There are fewer accidents at 50 km/h than at 70 km/h”said Mr. Bloche.
“Solo focus”
However, on the same day, the regional council of Île-de-France, chaired by Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains, LR), voted in favour of a motion calling on the mayor of Paris “give up on your project” denouncing his “unilateral character”. A criticism also formulated by one of the opposition groups in the Paris Council, Changer Paris (which brings together LR and centrist elected officials). Its president, David Alphand, denounces “a solitary approach that is in no way based on objective and scientific data”. For him it would have been necessary “Consult the Parisians; conduct an impact study because recent work is not going in the direction of Mme Hidalgo; conduct an experiment; then an evaluation before taking a definitive measure”.
In response, Patrick Bloche criticises an opposition that “He voted against all the measures taken during twenty-three years” Reducing the importance of the car in Paris. The former socialist MP apostrophizes Valérie Pécresse: “It’s 2024, not the 1960s or 1970s!” In response to criticism of M.me Hidalgo, his first deputy, assures that“There was a consultation” in 2018, then “an information and assessment mission of the Paris Council, headed by an elected official from the majority and an elected official from the opposition, whose report recommended the regulation of the ring road and, in particular, its maximum speed”But in the eyes of Mr. Alphand, the mayor of Paris only took “a few lines to justify your decision”.
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