• Strasbourg, the second “walkable” city in France after Paris, has adopted its 2021-2030 pedestrian plan.

  • It aims to make the city more pleasant, safer and above all to encourage locals and tourists to walk more often and for longer.

  • Reduction of the authorized speed, elimination of on-street parking spaces, widened sidewalks, secure pedestrian crossings… the program is loaded.

No doubt, the 2021-2030 pedestrian plan undertaken by the environmentalist majority in Strasbourg will clear the way. And as much to say it right away, the car will not be at the party. The second “walkable” city in France after Paris has indeed adopted a new plan which aims to make it more pleasant, safer and above all to encourage residents and tourists to walk more often and for longer. A "good thing" according to all the studies, underlines the Strasbourg executive, because it is excellent for health. It is also an "essential marker" of the policy that the city intends to pursue, recalls Mayor Jeanne Barseghian. 

If the previous 2011-2020 pedestrian plan made it possible to maintain the share of daily journeys on foot at 40%, "there is still room for improvement", explains the mayor.

The objective is to meet the challenges of air pollution, noise, health and safety, without also forgetting to "support commercial vitality", explains the city, because walkers are buyers.

For the time being, a precise timetable for this implementation of the pedestrian plan has not yet been established.

Consultations will be launched on each proposal throughout the mandate, but the measures that will be taken are already well defined. 

20 Minutes

takes stock of the action program.

Appease the roads

The public space reserved for pedestrians and for active or low-polluting mobility will be "appeased" to make them places of life "promoting conviviality and citizenship". To achieve this, the city intends to reduce the space of the car (parking and traffic). Eventually, all service roads (excluding major traffic axes) will pass through special traffic areas, limited to a maximum of 30 km / h. Some places "crowded with cars" on the Big Island will be pedestrianized and requalified. Discussions for the moment concern the Place du Marché Neuf, the Temple Neuf, or even Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune. Five peaceful zones per year will be created and others improved.

To "facilitate citizen demand", it will be possible to pass narrow streets to the meeting zone if half of the residents so request.

It will also be possible to create, "in conjunction with the inhabitants, friendly public spaces downstairs from the house by temporarily closing a street", twice a year.

On the other hand, parking will be prohibited for five meters upstream of all pedestrian crossings and this space can be used to install bicycle poles.

To secure the movement of children and parents, street schools will multiply at the rate of ten per year.

The roads on the school's routes will be upgraded, the pedibus and the vélobus will be professionalized.

A more pleasant and safer walk for all

The public space will be cleared of unnecessary furniture. The regulations concerning terraces, easels, menu holders or flower boxes will be reviewed in order to preserve pedestrian paths and help people with reduced mobility, the passage of strollers and children. The bicycle hoops will be installed outside the pedestrian routes. Bike lanes, where possible, will be relocated to the carriageway and widened sidewalks. More regular police checks will aim to prevent cars and motorcycles from parking on sidewalks.

To "enchant" the moments of walking, the demineralized and vegetated spaces, - with the establishment of picnic benches, public toilets - will be multiplied.

And for those who are shopping and are unwilling or unable to walk with their bags full, a deposit system is being explored.

Some isolated areas will see their lighting improved, for more security.

Finally, new pedestrian crossings (three per year) will be put in place, in particular on major traffic axes.

It is also planned to reduce the waiting time on these axes, to regulate the traffic lights differently, in particular by lengthening the pedestrian phases, but also to experiment with the diagonal pedestrian crossing on four intersections.

Reduce conflicts

In order to facilitate cohabitation between cyclists and pedestrians, the flows and shared spaces will be better delimited and the parking offer for bicycles at the entrance to the pedestrian paths, expanded.

An express bypass is in progress and will limit bicycle transit in the heart of the Grande-Ile.

Alternative routes will invite cyclists to avoid pedestrian streets when crowded.

Finally, a request for experimentation with reduced fines for cyclists will be relaunched.

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  • Bike

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  • Pedestrians