Here is the first “The Peripheral Bulletin” from the City Hall of Paris

Noise, air quality, accidents, traffic jams, average speed… Every week, the City of Paris will publish the peripheral bulletin.

“Justifying oneself reinforces the idea that one is wrong“. This saying could be attributed to the City Hall of Paris, which, for the first time since 1956 and the creation of the peripheral road, will publish a weekly bulletin including 5 indicators. This initiative follows the implementation, on October 1, 2024, of the speed limit set at 50 km/h.

This “peripheral bulletin” highlights five key indicators intended to monitor the evolution of the Paris beltway, Europe’s most congested roadway with 1.2 million daily trips. The data, provided by Airparif, Bruitparif, and the Parisian Mobility Observatory, will be compared each week with figures from the previous year for the same period.

• Noise: Noise measurements are conducted at night by the permanent Bruitparif station located at the Porte de Vincennes, a time when the speed limit can have the most impact on residents (reducing noise pollution). Noise is directly influenced by traffic but is also very sensitive to weather conditions.
• Air Quality: This indicator is based on the concentration of nitrogen dioxide and fine particles, pollutants mainly generated by traffic. Like noise, air quality varies depending on weather conditions, which affect the dispersion of pollutants.
• Traffic: Traffic indicators include the average speed of vehicles, measured on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., as well as the level of congestion, calculated from sensors that measure lane occupancy rates (free, dense, saturated) across the entire beltway.
• Accident Statistics: Data on accidents come from the events register of the peripheral boulevard’s control room and pertain to incidents that occurred from Monday to Friday during business days.

A Carpooling Lane in 2025

As part of its Climate Plan 2026-2030, the City of Paris will designate a lane for carpooling and public transport at the beginning of 2025. A legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, this lane will be active from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., only on weekdays, Monday to Friday.

The state has also committed to establishing a common timetable starting early 2025 to sustain these lanes on the peripheral boulevard, A1, and A13. These Olympic lanes will then be reserved for carpooling (with a minimum of 2 persons per vehicle), public transport, taxis, vehicles for persons with reduced mobility (PRM), as well as emergency vehicles.

Will this carpooling lane also lead to a weekly bulletin?

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