It was one of Anne Hidalgo's campaign promises: the Mayor of Paris wanted to lower the speed limit on the Paris ring road from 70 km/h to 50 km/h. From October 1, the millions of motorists who use the Paris ring road every day will be forced to slow down on a first section, located between Porte des Lilas and Porte d'Orléans. Quite a change for users of the ring road, who have already had to adapt to the lane reserved for athletes during the competition, and then for car-sharing and buses.
The speed limit will be lowered in two stages, with an initial reduction before the entire boulevard périphérique is brought into line on October 10, except for emergency vehicles. A total of 160 signs will have to be installed over six nights by Paris City Hall staff. The city must also publish its municipal by-law to ensure that the measure is applied and that speed cameras are corrected.
According to traffic specialists, a 50 km/h ring road would not only reduce pollution and noise pollution, but would also make traffic flow more smoothly. According to its calculations, Bruitparif estimates that a reduction in traffic speed could reduce noise by 2 to 3 decibels. As part of its Climate Plan, the City of Paris intends to change traffic on this major Parisian thoroughfare, which reaches a median speed of 30-45km/h at rush hour.
As a reminder, the maximum speed limit on the ring road used to be 90km/h before 1993, and was reduced to 70km/h in 2014. Dan Lert, the mayor's deputy in charge of ecological transition, told a conference that this could prevent 1,500 premature deaths on the outskirts of the capital, with less road-traffic-related nitrogen dioxide in the air.
A measure that may well be short-lived, as the government and many workers in the Paris region are strongly opposed to the limit. François Durovray, the new Minister of Transport, said that Anne Hidalgo"cannot decide alone" and that there were "consequences beyond the ring road".
