three questions on this measure wanted by Mayor Anne Hidalgo but rejected by Minister Clément Beaune

The Minister of Transport indicated on Franceinfo on Thursday that he would not validate the decision of the mayor of Paris.

The standoff is launched between the State and the Paris town hall over the reduction, or not, of the maximum speed on the Paris ring road. “We will not validate the decision for the 50 km/h ring road at the end of 2024”, declared Thursday December 7 on franceinfo Clément Beaune, the Minister of Transport. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, wants to lower the speed limit with a triple objective: reducing noise pollution, reducing pollution for local residents as well as reducing the number of accidents. Franceinfo returns to this issue of maximum speed on this 35 km route, used by more than a million vehicles every day.

1 Why does the city of Paris want to lower the maximum speed on the Paris ring road?

As part of her new Climate Plan, Anne Hidalgo wants to reduce the speed limit from 70 to 50 km/h on the Paris ring road, after the Paris Olympics, on September 14, 2024.This reduction in speed is recommended for safety reasons. This will limit noise for the 500,000 residents of the ring road and will lead to a reduction in air pollution. details the town hall. “How can we accept that kids who live near urban highways such as the ring roads are suffocating with asthma attacks, particularly in working-class neighborhoods in Paris?” argues Dan Lert, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of ecological transition.

For his part, Clément Beaune indicates that “this is not a good idea in the short term.” The Minister of Transport still says “open” to a reserved lane on the ring road, as also proposed by the mayor of Paris in her Climate Plan. The idea is to perpetuate the lane reserved for carpooling and public transport which must be established during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. According to Clément Beaune, “if you do the reserved lane and the ring road at 50 km/h at the same time, you will drive people crazy”. The 2024-2030 Climate Plan must still be presented to the Paris Council in December 2023, then submitted to a vote by elected officials in 2024.

2 Between the city and the State, who decides, who validates?

The Paris ring road has a special status. The axis is a municipal road, the management, maintenance and operation of which are the responsibility of the capital. Which makes David Belliard, mobility assistant, say: “Our analysis is that the City can legally make this decision” regulating speed on a municipal road. A prerogative contested in particular by Valérie Pécresse, president (LR) dsheIle-de-France. During the regional campaign, in 2021she asked that the region recovers the management of peripheral.

But the peripheral is also a “essential axis for safety” of the capital. According to article L.2512-14 of the General Code of Local Authorities, the police prefect must be consulted before any transformation. The final arbitration therefore falls to the State. During the previous reduction in the speed limit on the ring road from 80 to 70 km/h in 2014, at the request of the PS mayor at the time, Bertrand Delanoë, it was Prime Minister Manuel Valls, also in the PS at the time, who had decided. And Paris City Hall is aware that the final word goes to the State. She even writes on her site that she wishes to implement her measures, “subject to agreement with the State”.

Clément Beaune is opposed to it, therefore, but the municipality does not intend to give up. “I confirm that we will lower the speed”replied the first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire. “Our analysis is that we can lower the speed for environmental issues as we wish“, added Anne Hidalgo’s deputy, to AFP. Emmanuel Grégoire also ensures that he is based on a “interpretation of the law” of the Minister of the Interior in a writing dating back to 2019.

But no one knows, at this stage, who, the Paris town hall or the executive, would emerge victorious from this legal standoff. The Minister of Transport has in any case called for consultation. “The ring road is managed by the city of Paris but three quarters of it is used by residents of the Ile-de-France region and commuters. The least we can do is decide with the region, with the departments”underlined Clément Beaune.

3 Do speed drops improve things?

In the 50 years of the ring road’s existence, the maximum speed has increased from 90 km/h in 1973, to 80 km/h in 1993 and to 70 km/h currently. We travel on average at 38.9 km/h on the ring road and the average journey of a vehicle is 7.5 kilometers, according to Paris City Hall. It also indicates that, since the speed was lowered to 70 km/h in 2014, the following year there was a drop in the number of accidents of 13.2% and a slight drop in road noise (-0 .6 db on average and -1.2 db at night).

According to Bruitparif, the noise observatory in Île-de-France, limiting it to 50km/h would reduce noise by 2 to 3 decibels during the night, when cars are traveling the fastest. During the day, on the other hand, the impact would only be 0.5 to 1 decibel.

Concerning pollution, the change from 80 to 70 km/h on the ring road in 2014, combined with the arrival of electric cars on the market, made it possible to improve air quality. “In 10 years, nitrogen dioxide has been reduced by 40% and fine particle pollution has fallen by 20% in the capital”explains Antoine Trouche, engineer at Airparif, an organization responsible for assessing air quality in Île-de-France.

But limiting speed on the road ring does not necessarily reduce environmental pollution, emphasizes Airparif. “For there to be an impact, this limitation would have to make it possible, on the one hand, to reduce traffic jams, and on the other hand, it would have to encourage motorists to reduce their travel.”, adds Antoine Trouche. Nearly 40,000 Ile-de-France residents live in an area exceeding dangerous thresholds, Airparif points out.