This flagship project for the second term of PS mayor Anne Hidalgo, re-elected in 2020 after winning her showdown to pedestrianize the tracks on the banks of the Seine, was announced in May 2021 for mid-2022.

Objective of this "limited traffic zone" (ZTL), renamed "peaceful zone": to drastically reduce the place of the car in the hypercentre of the capital - the first four arrondissements, plus the parts of the fifth, sixth and seventh located between the boulevard Saint-Germain and the Seine - via the ban on transit traffic, which represents 50% of current traffic, recalled Thursday David Belliard, the assistant (EELV) for the transformation of public space.

There are in this area between 350,000 and 550,000 trips per day in total, he said.

But to "reassure those who are worried", the majority on the left has decided to postpone the implementation to early 2024, just in time for the Olympic Games that the City of Light is to host, announced the first deputy (PS) Emmanuel Grégoire .

The mayor of Paris and PS presidential candidate, February 8, 2022 in Paris Ludovic MARIN POOL / AFP / Archives

The time to seize the Environmental Authority, to carry out an impact study to avoid "bottlenecks by carryover effects", according to Mr. Grégoire, and a public inquiry which must associate, in addition to the ordinary person, the authorities of transport, traders and department stores.

VTC authorized

"It took them more than six months to realize that it is not feasible" from 2022, commented to AFP Aurélien Véron, spokesman for the elected LR of the capital.

The LR mayor of the 6th arrondissement, Jean-Pierre Lecoq, hailed him "a real public inquiry" while the consultation carried out so far "was very light".

If the town hall takes its time, it nevertheless already has a fairly precise idea of ​​its "peaceful zone" in which local residents, traders, people with reduced mobility, employees or people "going to the theater or to visit friends" will always be authorized. emergency vehicles, buses, bicycles, taxis, VTC or car-sharing vehicles, listed David Belliard.

Motorists on the Champs-Elysées in May 2020 in Paris THOMAS COEX AFP

The acceptance of VTCs will be conditional on a "commitment of the profession to the greening of the fleet", underlined Mr. Belliard.

On this point, welcomed by Uber, as on the authorization of "destination traffic" - external vehicles which will have "something to do in the area", summarizes David Belliard -, the town hall finally chose "to keep a little Oxygen in this vice tightening”, estimates Mr. Véron.

"Anyone in the world can come to the center of Paris to come and shop there," clarified the first deputy (PS) Emmanuel Grégoire.

"It became very clear that it was wanted by a majority of people", explained Ariel Weil, PS mayor of Paris Center who recalls having been elected on this project.

The prefect is against

To enforce this peaceful zone, the town hall is considering random checkpoints at the exit, on proof (macaroons, receipts or parking tickets).

Mr. Grégoire, who wants "first to do pedagogy before moving on to verbalization", wants control systems "as simple as possible".

"It's a ZTL light which I'm quite in favor of", commented Mr. Lecoq.

Not the prefect of police Didier Lallement who, on the other hand, immediately made known his "strong reservations about the project as envisaged".

The prefect of police Didier Lallement, October 17, 2021 in Paris Julien DE ROSA AFP / Archives

The representative of the State fears "difficulties for the movement of emergency and police services on the outskirts of the area" and a "negative impact for the economic activity of the capital".

Another stumbling block: the two-way layout of Boulevard Saint-Germain, which is opposed by the right-wing mayors concerned by this axis.

A "total heresy", judges Mr. Lecoq for whom there is a risk of "recreating a ring road inside Paris".

© 2022 AFP