French government to block Paris post-Olympics speed limit plan: minister

The French government will block a flagship plan by the Paris mayor’s office to set a speed limit of 50 kilometres per hour (30 mph) on the capital’s congested ring road after the 2024 Olympic Games, the transport minister said Thursday.

The issue is the latest example of tensions between the centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron and the city hall under Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo just over half a year before the Games get underway.

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The mayor’s office said in November that the restrictions aimed at reducing pollution and noise from the Boulevard Peripherique — one of Europe’s busiest roads — will come into force a few weeks after the Olympics end.

“I think it is not a good idea in the short term to have this speed limit” and “at the end of 2024, we will not take the decision, we will not validate the decision”, Transport Minister Clement Beaune told Franceinfo radio.

The 35-kilometre (22-mile) Peripherique — widely known as the “Periph'” — is used by around 1.2 million drivers every day, most of them from the Ile-de-France region that includes Paris.

The current speed limit is 70 kilometres an hour, and 80 percent of vehicles on the road have just their driver and no passengers.

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Under city hall’s plan, one lane of the ring road in each direction would be reserved for vehicles carrying two or more passengers.

Although the ring road “is managed by the city of Paris”, a change in the speed limit “obviously requires approval from the state”, said Beaune, adding however that he was “open” to the idea of a reserved lane for car-sharing.

“I think the reserved lane is a good thing,” he said, but if at the same time the speed limit increased to 50 km/h, “I think you’re going to drive people crazy.”

The deputy mayor in charge of transport, David Belliard of France’s Greens, reacted with fury to Beaune’s comments, saying that “once again, the government chooses to make a petty controversy and gives in to the pressure of pro-car lobbies”.

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Paris transport is proving a contentious issue ahead of the Games.

City hall this week urged the wider Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris and is run by the right-wing Republicans, to abandon a plan to nearly double metro fares during the Olympics.

© Agence France-Presse