It is better to avoid driving in Paris on Wednesday, warns the Minister of Transport

Traffic will be complicated due to the opening ceremony organized on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées and on the Place de la Concorde.

It would be better to favor public transport and bicycles. “It is strongly recommended not to come by car” in Paris on Wednesday August 28, the day of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, warned the resigning Minister Delegate for Transport Patrice Vergriete on Tuesday. “Traffic will be difficult in the centre of the capital all day”he insisted with a no-traffic zone, except with a derogation, set up from Wednesday morning around the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées. It will be extended from 2 p.m. to around the Place Charles-de-Gaulle.

“Last time, the population adapted very well”Patrice Vergriete stressed to AFP, recalling that on July 26, the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Ile-de-France region had recorded the lowest cumulative traffic jam ever measured. But unlike the Olympic Games, during which many Parisians fled the capital, desaturating the transport network, the Paralympics will take place in the middle of the school year.

“Public transport is going to be a little more congested than usual,” Patrice Vergriete also warned, recommending that residents of the Paris region go to the website anticiperlesjeux.com or use the Transport Public Paris 2024 application to avoid overloaded lines.