The ban on transit traffic in Paris postponed to 2024

The ban on vehicles crossing the center of Paris, scheduled for this year, has finally been postponed to 2024 to better assess its impact.

The anti-car measures of the City of Paris are visibly struggling to be put in place. After having postponed the next stage of the ban on the circulation of polluting vehicles in the ZFEs to 2023, then having postponed the paid parking of two-wheelers to September 2022, it is the ban on transit traffic in the center of the capital which is pushed back.

The Parisian “peaceful zone” postponed to 2024

Initially scheduled for the first half of 2022, the ban on transit traffic for vehicles in the center of Paris has been postponed to 2024, right in time for the Olympic Games. Flagship measure of the program of Anne Hidalgo and her team, the reduction of traffic in the center of Paris is not ready and is causing debate. Initially announced as a pedestrianization of the center of the City of Light, the project was then reviewed. For the mayor of Paris, it was not a question of blocking all traffic in this area, but rather of forcing those who only cross the capital to do otherwise. Residents, traders, people with mobility, emergency vehicles and passenger transport will be exempt. Thus, transit traffic must become prohibited within a perimeter comprising the first four arrondissements and part of the 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements, between Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Seine.

We continue on the calmer zone Paris Center – Saint Germain.
Objective: ↘️ transit traffic.
✅ 7243 contributions for the 1st consultation phase, 78% in support ?
✅ Go shopping, ensure a construction site, a delivery… all this will remain allowed
(1/3) https://t.co/l33x6M5dvw
— David Belliard (@David_Belliard) February 17, 2022

The opposition, the Environmental Authority and the police headquarters alert the town hall

This decision to restrict traffic throughout the center of Paris blows hot and cold. If some residents are already delighted, the opposition is headwind against the project. Elected officials, especially on the right, evoke a massive transfer of traffic to the outskirts of the area, which would lead to new traffic jams and additional pollution. David Belliard, deputy ecologist in charge of transport, is aware of these potential legal loopholes. The team therefore took the lead by consulting the Environmental Authority, which requested that the project be postponed in order to submit it to a more serious impact study.

At the same time, the Paris police headquarters is also sounding the alarm. The prefect Didier Lallement believes that ” the current characteristics of the project risk creating difficulties for the movement of emergency and police services on the outskirts of the area, and could also have a negative impact on the economic activity of the capital ».

The police headquarters will therefore have to work with the team of elected officials to find a way to control and enforce this future ban. Random checks on the reason for the presence of the vehicle in the perimeter (parking ticket, invoice from a merchant, etc.) will be favored initially, before the implementation of automated controls with cameras reading license plates.

Photo : Joenomias/Pixabay