50 km/h on the ring road in 2024!

The City of Paris announced its intention to limit the speed on the périphérique to 50 km/h starting September 2024.

Following the announcement of a popular consultation on SUVs in Paris, the announcement machine keeps running at full speed from the City of Paris. We like to think that this will never happen, that common sense will prevail, but with Anne Hidalgo’s team, anything is possible… even the worst! The speed limit on the périphérique has already been drastically reduced: from 90 to 80 km/h in 1993 and from 80 to 70 km/h in 2014. After the Paris Olympic Games, it will therefore be 50 km/h.

This announcement was made on Wednesday, November 22, during the presentation of the new climate plan 2024-2030. The speed reduction will come into effect according to this plan as early as September 2024, right after the Olympic Games.

This fourth climate plan includes some positive measures for the venerable périphérique, such as a dedicated lane for carpooling. This lane is expected to follow the lane reserved for officials and athletes during the Games. Why promote collective travel with one hand and criticize users with the other? We have long passed the stage of carrots and sticks, so who knows.

“We are progressing on the transformation of the périphérique with the implementation of a dedicated lane for carpooling and public transport and the speed limit of 50 km/h on this major axis,” said Dan Lert, deputy in charge of ecological transition for the city of Paris. “How can we accept that children living near urban highways like the périphérique suffocate from asthma attacks, especially in the working-class neighborhoods of Paris?” the deputy said earnestly. The main cause of these emissions is clearly the car, there’s no denying that, but it is more precisely the accumulation of cars that makes them so harmful. The Parisian loop is constantly congested due to ongoing construction work. Between closed roads for new tramway lines, blocked lanes, and a total lack of planning on how to facilitate exits, nothing is done to improve the situation. Before reducing the speed to limit emissions, shouldn’t we seriously consider the very architecture of these 35 km of lanes? Changing a number is easier than redesigning the roads.

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