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Paris will impose a speed limit of 30 km / h on almost the entire capital from the end of August, fulfilling the promise of the campaign left-green alliance that runs the city and enraged drivers already facing traffic jams, road works and the proliferation of bike lanes.
The measure is the latest phase in a long struggle between successive Parisian governments that have restricted traffic to the city center and motorists in the capital and its suburbs who normally receive the support of right-wing politicians.
“For safety it’s cool and for the environment it’s cool, but at 30kmh it will be harder to get around to work,” said Mesa Gomez, a 24-year-old franchisee from a cleaning business while picking up equipment from the his van in the center Friday in Paris. “There are good and bad things.”
A taxi driver waiting for a fare nearby and eating lunch did not hesitate to conclude that everything was bad. “The law is the law, but going from 50 to 30 is pretty annoying,” said the man who had spent the last 30 years of his working life behind the wheel of a cab.
“In Paris it is already very difficult to drive and park, not to mention everyone bike lanes and road works everywhere ”.
David Belliard, the Green MP for Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo, said the move to reduce the limit from 50km / h to 30km / h would be good for safety and the environment and would reduce noise pollution.
“The challenge is to reduce the presence of cars, their speed and their grip on the city to make room for other users,” he told the Financial Times. “We estimate it will reduce noise nuisance by three decibels, or by half in terms of what people perceive. It’s really a big gain in terms of quality of life.”
Only a few major roads such as the Champs Elysees will be saved, while the boundary of the Boulevard Périphérique, the congested ring road around Paris, will remain at 70 km / h for the time being.
Many large European cities, including London with its 20 mph zones, have drastically reduced speed limits in different areas in recent years. But Paris is unusual in extending the lower limit to almost all its streets. “Among the big cities we are really pioneers,” Belliard said.
Previously, traffic of just over half of the capital was restricted to 30km / h, although congestion means that the actual average speed of vehicles is only 15kmh. “There’s a kind of fantasy about how big the cars are for getting around the city that is a long way from reality,” he said.
Pierre Chasseray, who leads a pressure group called 40 million drivers, complained that 30km / h cars in Paris would now be overtaken by bicycles, while Aurélien Véron, a Liberal councilor in Paris opposed to the new limits, condemned what he called “a brutal announcement” and told AFP that going 30km / h would be like “driving 30km / h”. a hearse ”.
The Paris government does not stop at the new speed limits and plans new measures to restrict cars, including a low-traffic area in the heart of the capital that will exclude transient traffic while allowing deliveries and services to continue.
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