It is undoubtedly the most talked about part of the Paris mayor’s 2024-2030 climate plan: the reduction of the speed limit to 50 km/h from September 14 on the ring road. A date that will mark the transfer between the “Olympic route” and the route dedicated to car sharing and public transport.
1.17 million trips per day on average
Main objectives set by the Paris city council: improve air quality and reduce noise pollution.
“The maximum authorized speed will be 50 km/h for all users in all lanes of the ring road. This speed reduction is recommended by Cerema (public body dependent on the Ministry of Energy Transition) for safety reasons. This will limit noise for the 500,000 inhabitants of the ring road and will reduce air pollution,” highlights the city’s press release.
A significant challenge for this axis, with 1.17 million daily trips, with a peak of 1.25 million on Fridays, according to a study by Roland Berger and Kisio, a Keolis subsidiary. Logically, traffic drops on weekends, with 22.1% less traffic, up to 920,000 trips on average on Saturdays and Sundays.
According to this same study, it is the inhabitants of the outskirts, the departments bordering Paris, who are most accustomed to using the ring road: they represent 43% of trips.
Public health goals
Regarding air pollution, the levels of fine particles measured in the capital and its surroundings remain alarming, according to Airparif. They fluctuate on average between 17 and 19 µg/m3, while the threshold recommended by the WHO is 15 µg/m3, with an excess recorded for a total of 125 days last year.
Regarding noise reduction, a recent report by Bruitparif indicated that the sound level still exceeded the European standard of 68 decibels. Only four points around the ring road are below this level, thanks to the installation of an acoustic coating, a road designed to reduce noise pollution or acoustic screens.
A modal shift that is difficult to predict
Traffic is a priori more complicated for motorists, knowing that this exclusive lane is ultimately planned for the entire Paris ring road, including the three- and two-lane sections of the southern ring road.
To reduce pollution, two conditions would have to be respected:
“The first condition is that this reduction in the limitation makes traffic more fluid than it congests it, and the other interesting impact to observe is to see if this encourages people, given that the trip will be to lie down, to drink other means of transport, in particular public transport and cycling, instead of the car,” Antoine Trouche, Airparif engineer, explains to BFMTV.
A modal shift – precisely the act of changing the mode(s) of daily transport depending on the context – is difficult to anticipate.
Especially since the mayor of Paris has already warned that we should not expect an improvement in public transport in the short term, and in particular in view of the Olympic Games.
“We are still in difficulties in daily transportation and we cannot reach the level (…) of punctuality, of comfort for Parisians,” explained Anne Hidalgo on TMC’s Quotidien program.
Before and after the Olympic Games, the year 2024 promises to be quite “sporty” to travel to Ile-de-France.
Source: BFM TV
