what are the sectors where traffic is disrupted in Ile-de-France because of Joe Biden’s visit?

The state visit of the American president is causing numerous disruptions on the roads in Paris and Ile-de-France.

New difficulties are to be expected. After several traffic restrictions on Wednesday June 5 and Thursday June 6 in the evening, disruptions are expected on Friday “around lunch break and late afternoon”, alerts the police headquarters on X. The authorities therefore advise avoiding the ring road between Porte d’Asnières and Porte d’Orléans as well as the A6 motorway. These road closures take place as part of Joe Biden’s first state visit to France. The American president arrived Wednesday morning to attend the ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings and is due to leave on Sunday June 9.

The French authorities are adapting to Joe Biden’s agenda. Police headquarters services “take care to limit the impact of traffic and parking restrictions necessarily put in place as part of a State visit”explains the police headquarters to franceinfo. “Precise closures are not announced in advance for obvious security reasons.” To try to anticipate difficulties, we must therefore scrutinize the agenda of the American head of state. After the ceremonies on Thursday, with a passage through the American cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer then through Omaha Beach for the international ceremony, Joe Biden returned to Paris on Thursday evening. But the President of the United States returned to Normandy on Friday for a new ceremony at Pointe du Hoc. According to the head of state’s agenda delivered by the Rollcall.com site, Joe Biden must return to Paris-Orly airport around 12:25 p.m.

On Saturday, he will be received by Emmanuel Macron, with a welcome ceremony on the Place Charles-de-Gaulle, a military parade, a laying of wreaths at the foot of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a rekindling of the flame, before a working lunch and joint press statements. The day will conclude with a state dinner at the Elysée, a way for the French president to return the courtesy, he who had benefited from the same treatment in Washington in December 2022. On Sunday, Joe Biden will also lay a wreath at the cemetery American Bois Belleau (Aisne), in tribute to the soldiers who fell during the First World War.

For Friday, the authorities therefore advise avoiding the ring road between Porte d’Asnières and Porte d’Orléans as well as the A6 motorway. Returning from Normandy, the very impressive procession of the American president must take these roads. In Paris, traffic is prohibited in the 9th arrondissement in an area around rue Scribe, between place Charles-Garnier and boulevard des Capucines between Wednesday and Sunday. For the day of Saturday, it is prohibited to drive in a large area around the Avenue des Champs-Elysées between 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and around the Elysée from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.

These road closures logically cause traffic jams and discontent for Ile-de-France residents. Shortly before 9 a.m., Friday June 7, more than 200 km of cumulative traffic jams were recorded in Ile-de-France, according to the Sytadin website. This is a level “unusual”. Traffic jams are particularly noted on the Paris ring road, the A6 and the A86. Some people have been surprised by the closures in recent days. “We thank Biden who closed the ring road and the highway to Orly… for my morning flight, it was a failure!” annoys an Internet user on X on the morning of June 6. “You close the busiest roads at the busiest time, but how can we not call this country stupid?” added another.