Paris ring road: region to oppose October speed cut to 50 km/h

The Ile-de-France region is not in favour of the proposed introduction of a 50km/h speed limit on the Paris périphérique, and is set to call on the Paris council to abandon the change.

The Paris Mairie is currently planning to lower the speed limit on the Paris ring road from 70km/h to 50km/h from October 1, Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced. The stated aim is to improve pollution and road safety.

Read also: Paris mayor confirms plans to reduce speed limit to 50km/h on city ring road

But the Ile-de-France region led by president Valérie Pécresse has, along with her 15 vice-presidents and councillors, scheduled a vote on a motion that “calls for the Paris mairie to renounce its project”.

Noise pollution

Regional elected officials are more concerned with reducing the noise from the ring road, rather than simply cutting speed, the proposal suggests. It states a desire to “effectively reduce noise pollution from the ring road from 2025, by laying new soundproof asphalt that will cut noise on the road by a factor of five”.

The proposal comes after a map - published in May by air pollution and noise pollution groups Airparif and Bruitparif - showed that 80% of the population of Ile-de-France are “highly exposed” to noise and air pollution, particularly around the périphérique.

The regional executive said that it is prepared to cover half of the investment needed for this asphalt change. It has also called for responsibility for managing the ring road to be transferred to the state, rather than the Paris mairie. 

In an interview with Le Parisien, Ms Pécresse also said that the Paris mairie could do many other things to help reduce pollution rather than cut the speed limit, including replacing the asphalt, which “has not been resurfaced for years”, she said. Similarly, the city has “never followed up” on earlier plans to cover up the road, she claimed.

‘Unilateral decision’

The regional president is a regular critic of Ms Hidalgo’s decisions and methods. 

Only last week she criticised the mayor for what she called a “unilateral decision” to keep the ‘Olympic’ roads on the périphérique after the Olympics and Paralynpics (which finished on September 8), and turn them into ‘reserved’ lanes for car-sharing, public transport, and emergency services.

Read also: Fines, banned vehicles: Rules for Olympic lanes on French roads 

She said: “A denial of democracy is taking place. 90% of the people consulted were not in favour [of the idea] and a consultation had received 80% negative responses.”

Ms Pécresse added that keeping the reserved lanes would lead to “traffic congestion in the Île-de-France region” and cause traffic and air pollution problems to simply shift to other roads. 

She warned of “calamitous consequences”, and added that she had not ruled out taking the Mairie to court for its lack of impact study on the move.