The ring road goes to 50 km/h and no one cares…

After 48 hours of reflection, the Île-de-France region has finally decided to react to Anne Hidalgo’s power grab regarding the Paris ring road. And it is disheartening.

The Île-de-France region, chaired by Valérie Pécresse, has finally responded to Anne Hidalgo’s unilateral decision to lower the speed limit on the Paris ring road to 50 km/h starting from October 1st. A motion was adopted today calling on Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to “reconsider” her project. One can imagine how much this must terrify the Parisian mayor…

The simplest way to contest an unjust decision is to demonstrate its illegality, which seems to be the case with Anne Hidalgo’s decision since the City of Paris does not have sole control over the ring road and its regulations. However, neither the Prefecture of Paris nor the Île-de-France region appear to have anticipated a decision that was announced over 2 months ago. One can criticize Anne Hidalgo for many things, but she seems much more serious about following up on her files than her opponents. Unless, by making this decision alone, she is actually benefiting everyone?

Let’s take a look at this motion nonetheless. The Île-de-France region states that the ring road is used daily by over 1 million vehicles, with 40% of trips made from suburb to suburb and 80% of users being non-Parisians. These statistics are verified, so we are indeed facing a power grab by the City of Paris. Valérie Pécresse continues with the assertion that “During the day, the average speed is 36 km/h. Therefore, it is not daytime workers who will be affected by this speed reduction; it’s nighttime workers, those on staggered shifts, the most modest workers, those who have no choice but to drive.” Thus, workers are penalized during hours when the ring road is clear, making traffic less polluting. The case seems well-prepared for a legal opposition to the ban!

But against all expectations, the Île-de-France region makes a completely absurd counter-proposal to finance 50% of the installation of new noise-insulating surfaces on the ring road to reduce noise. And claims that this solution is twice as effective as reducing the speed from 70 to 50 km/h. If it weren’t pathetic, it would be funny. How can one imagine for even two seconds that the Mayor of Paris will accept to abandon her project and spend a fortune to align with the region? And the construction work, the closed lanes, the detours… can you imagine the additional nuisances for Parisians?

It seems the matter is settled, and in 19 days millions of ring road users will continue to face the usual daytime traffic jams and crawl at night… or cross Paris to go faster.

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