• Emmanuel Grégoire, Anne Hidalgo's first assistant in charge of town planning, unveiled the main lines of the Grand site Eiffel Tower project.

  • Priority is given to pedestrianization and revegetation of the place.

  • With a budget of 107 million euros, work is expected to start at the end of 2022 and will be completed after the 2024 Olympics.

Paris continues to turn green.

Flagship plan of this mandate of Anne Hidalgo, the greening of the capital could not forget the Eiffel Tower.

This Tuesday, a few days before the end of public participation by electronic means (PPVE), on November 17, Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris in charge of town planning, presented the main lines of the Grand project. Eiffel Tower website.

"With 7 million visitors who climb in the Tower each year, and 20 million tourists who come to the site, the current conditions no longer allow to welcome everyone in a correct way", he specified before define the axes that define this project: offer more spaces to pedestrians, develop the place of nature and highlight the prospect Trocadéro - Eiffel Tower - Military school.

Pedestrianization and revegetation

To carry out this gigantic project, the jury and the tender committee chose the “OnE I” project from the Gustafson Porter + Bowman agency.

This proposes to give more space to pedestrians from the Place du Trocadéro-et-du-11-Novembre, which should see its roundabout cut to connect it directly to the esplanade by a large green space.

Pedestrians are not the only beneficiaries of this program since soft mobility, such as cycling and public transport will gain dedicated spaces.

The Avenue des Nations-Unies, which crosses the Trocadéro gardens, the Pont d'Iéna and the lanes which separate it from the Ouvriers-de-la-Tour-Eiffel esplanade will be reserved for pedestrians, cyclists and buses.

With the exception of a surface track on the Jacques-Chirac quay, cars and motorcycles must pass through underground tracks. Same scenario on the other side of the Eiffel Tower for Place Jacques-Rueff, according to Emmanuel Grégoire: “This place which attracts so many tourists, many of whom stop for photos, could not remain open to traffic. The project is expected to add 35,000 m² of lanes for pedestrians, bicycles and public transport.

The south side of the Eiffel Tower should also undergo a small facelift. The space between Place Jacques-Rueff and the Eiffel Tower will be green, like all the surroundings of the Iron Lady. "We do not want to give up the vision of a green corridor from the Trocadero to the Military School", which is why 222 trees will be planted in this area, minus the 42 which should be felled for the occasion, specifies Emmanuel Grégoire. In all, 17,000 m² of green spaces will be added to the sector. 

The Champ-de-Mars will be spared by the major works, but certain improvements will be carried out.

The large alleys that border it will see their stabilized soil, "which emits too much dust", replaced by a "deactivated" material, a type of semi-permeable concrete, to allow water to drain.

These large alleys will be revegetated and they will accommodate shelters to replace the algécos which are around the Eiffel Tower, as Emmanuel Grégoire explains: “We want to clear the dress of the Tower.

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Start of work in 2022

The municipality also wishes to restore a traditional color to Champ-de-Mars. If it wishes to keep the historic furniture of the place, the existing benches should be renovated and new benches, still on the classic Parisian model, will be installed. Likewise, the kiosks that accommodate the various businesses will be replaced. A new model, "inspired by the historical models of the site", will be implemented in a "desire for unification". Their activities will also be reviewed to better adhere to the priorities of the city (short circuits, product quality and social and solidarity economy).

Lawns should be spared, by construction sites, first of all, but also by the events that take place throughout the year on this site.

"We want to create specific spaces for this, a framework favorable to the tradition of events of the place, and to avoid seeing the lawn massacred at each concert or show, specifies Emmanuel Grégoire, who wants to reassure the residents, he does not There is no question of increasing the events on the Champ-de-Mars.

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If many details are still to be defined, the total budget allocated should amount to 107 million euros, for work that will begin in the second half of 2022, to stop for the first time before the Olympic Games in 2024, and to resume. at the end of the competition.

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