Central Paris To Limit Through Motor Traffic From Next Week

Parisians rides their bicycles near the Eiffel Tower. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Paris will limit through motor traffic in the city’s central district, starting next week, Paris City Hall announced October 31.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo published a decree imposing a limited traffic zone (ZTL) in the center of Paris. The decree applies in an area of some two square miles that includes landmarks such as the Louvre Museum and Tuileries Gardens. Some sections of road within the ZTL—such as Rue du Rivoli or the lower quays beside the Seine—are already pedestrianized.

The measure will come into effect on Monday, David Belliard, the Green deputy mayor in charge of transport, told Agence France-Presse.

Center of Paris to impose a ZTL, a zone of limited motor traffic.

Motor vehicle access to the ZTL will be authorized for emergency vehicles, buses, taxis, people with reduced mobility, motorists living or working in the zone and so-called “destination traffic” including those in the area for a specific reason such as a medical appointment, shopping, or cinema visit, reports LeMonde.

City Hall says that its aim is to reduce through motor traffic. That is, non-resident motorists driving through while traveling from one side of Paris to another. Currently, between 350,000 and 500,000 motor vehicles use what will be the ZTL every day, and City Hall estimates that up to 50% of those journeys is through traffic.

“We estimate that only 30% of through traffic drivers absolutely need a car to make their journey,” says the mairie on its website.

“For the remaining 70%, the car is first and foremost a convenience.”

The new ZTL will be enforced, at first, with signage rather than CCTV cameras. There will only be light enforcement during the first three months of the scheme’s introduction. After this period of education enforcement will entail random stops of motor vehicles leaving the ZTL with motorists able to provide any justifications for their journeys.

While City Hall is expecting protests from some motoring groups it is confident the ZTL will be welcomed by most people.

L’Institut Paris Région carried out the survey for a consortium of fourteen public and private partners, including local government, earlier this year and found that cars are now a minority in many parts of Paris.

A study of people visiting shops in central Paris found that 54% arrived by public transport, 34% on foot, 7% by cycle and just 2% by car.

The implementation of the ZTL was a campaign commitment of Hidalgo to free up space in the city center taken up by cars and hand it back to people. The measure is also expected to clean up the air in Paris.

“The redistribution of public space is a policy of social redistribution,” said Belliard.

“Half of public space is occupied by private cars, which are used mostly by the richest, and mostly by men, because it’s mostly men who drive, and so in total, the richest men are using half the public space.”

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