Travel in the capital will be increasingly restricted as the opening ceremony approaches. “The big trouble will begin on July 1,” admits Laurent Nunez, the Paris police prefect.
It is a discipline which is not included in the Olympic program and yet: traveling to the capital this summer risks being a performance in itself. In November 2023, the Paris police chief had already given an overview of the security perimeters that will be put in place during the Paris Olympic Games. In the Senate, Tuesday March 5, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin completed the arrangements planned for the opening ceremony. Closed bridges, inaccessible areas… Franceinfo summarizes the traffic difficulties in Paris during the fortnight.
Four different security perimeters
When he was still Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune did not hesitate to talk about traffic plans “hardcore”. It’s difficult to prove him wrong: in total, four security perimeters will be deployed for each Olympic site.
Organizing scope. In this first perimeter, “in the immediate vicinity of the site”, “only accredited people (athletes, staff, organization, journalists, service providers, etc.) or those with a ticket enter”explained the police prefect, Laurent Nunez, in the columns of Parisian.
Protection perimeter. It is also called perimeter Silt, from the Internal Security and Counter-Terrorism Law. “To enter, everyone is searchedwarns the prefect. This perimeter does not generally include local residents, except for the opening ceremony and on a limited basis for a few sites.”
Red perimeter. This circulation perimeter is located “as close as possible to the site”describes Laurent Nunez. “There, we are not targeting pedestrians or cyclists, who can enter. The restrictions concern motorized vehicles with two or four wheels.” The rule is strict: “The principle is the ban on traffic, unless exempted, due to the significant pedestrian flow and the risk of car-ramming attacks or disruptions”according to the prefect.
Possible exceptions concern “for example, local residents who have parking lots, those who visit vulnerable people, emergency and rescue vehicles, recovery vehicles…” If you want to go there, “you will have to justify the fact that you are entering the perimeter to go to a restaurant” For example. You will need to register on a “platform” to access these places. This platform must open “in March at the earliest, in April at the latest. You will have a QR code to present during checks.”
Blue perimeter. It is much wider than the red one. “The idea here is to avoid transit traffic, explains the prefect. We only want to let those who live, work or want to go to a business or restaurant into the car.”
All the layouts of these perimeters are available on the website of the Paris police headquarters.
Areas sealed off for three months
To allow the installation of certain infrastructures, several main roads and large squares will be closed to traffic even before the start of the events. First area concerned: Place de la Concorde. The place will be “entirely closed to traffic” from June 1, announced Tony Estanguet, the president of the organizing committee for the Olympic Games (Cojo). It will be partially reopened from September 7.
The Champ-de-Mars-Trocadéro sector, which will host the judo and wrestling events, will be under construction from March. The area will be closed to traffic gradually until July. Concerned: all of the Trocadéro and Champ-de-Mars gardens, the southern part of Place du Trocadéro, Avenue des Nations United and the Pont d’Iéna.
The last perimeter concerned, that of the Grand-Palais, the Invalides and the Pont Alexandre III, where the taekwondo, fencing, triathlon, open water swimming or archery events are planned. In this area, the start of operations will take place in mid-April “without impact on traffic initially”specifies Tony Estanguet.
A unique device for the opening ceremony
An extraordinary opening ceremony, extraordinary security system. On July 26, airspace will be closed within a radius of 150 km around the capital. “It’s quite historic”recalled Gérald Darmanin during a hearing in the Senate. “In addition, helicopters will fly over the ceremony, with drones, to be able to keep snipers stationary.”
This airspace closure is planned from 7 p.m. until the end of the opening ceremony at midnight, said the minister, which means that all Ile-de-France airports and neighboring regions (Roissy, Orly, Le Bourget and Beauvais) will be closed. “The heads of state will have to reach beyond this zone”, declared the minister, citing Lille airport. Otherwise they will have to land “upstream” of the announced schedule.
On the day of the ceremony, it will (unsurprisingly) be complicated to go from one bank of the Seine to the other. “For the setting up of the opening ceremony, several bridges will be used by the Cojo, either to put stands or to put technical installations there”, admitted Laurent Nunez on franceinfo. Nevertheless, “five axes will still be crossing until a few hours before the ceremony and which are in the center of Paris. So, these are bridges that we can continue to cross. (…) It is important for Parisians and also for emergency services”explained Laurent Nunez, without giving the list of the axes concerned.
Bridges closed from July 1
Laurent Nunez himself recognizes this: “The big struggle will begin on July 1.” Several bridges in the center of the capital will in fact gradually close to traffic. From July 1st, you will no longer be able to use the Iéna bridge (in part) and the Carrousel bridge. From July 8, the Pont de l’Alma, the Pont de la Tournelle and the Pont au Change will be inaccessible. Then, on July 15, it will be the turn of the Pont de la Concorde, the Pont Royal and the Pont d’Arcole to join the list of closed places. Only four will remain open: the Pont d’Iéna (partly), the Pont des Invalides, the Notre-Dame bridge, the Sully bridge and the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor pedestrian bridge.
The banks of the Seine prohibited from access
From mid-June, the lower platforms will be closed to walking. On the high quays, motorized traffic will be prohibited from mid-July to allow the installation of “boxes” which will accommodate spectators with free tickets, explained the Paris police prefect. The traffic ban will be extended all along the quays from Charenton to Boulogne, “A few days” before the opening ceremony, said Gérald Darmanin without giving a precise date.