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Will Paris' famously gridlocked ring road be replaced with a park?

The Local France
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Will Paris' famously gridlocked ring road be replaced with a park?
How the Paris ring road could look by 2035. Photo: Jigen

A plan has been unveiled to replace Paris' famously gridlocked ring road with a series of parks, but where will the cars go?

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A series of drawings were released this week by a potential candidate for the role of Paris mayor.

In the images, created by urban planners and landscape architects, the current traffic-choked nightmare will be replaced by serene green spaces with water features, trees, pedestrian and cycle routes and skate parks, reported French newspaper Le Parisien.

READ ALSO Why this road is simply the worst in France (and possibly the world)


Plans for the Porte de la Plaine area. Photo: Jigen

The plan to "destroy" the périphérique is the brainchild of Francois Hollande's former spokesman Gaspard Gantzer, who has thrown his hat into the ring for the Paris mayoral race in 2020.

The estimated cost of replacing the 35km périphérique is €2 billion, and there is also the small matter of where the thousands of cars that use it every day would go instead.

The plan suggests returning traffic to the capital's outer ring road, the A86.

The Paris ring road has long been a byword for traffic jams, contributing to the city's ranking as the most congested in France with Paris drivers spending an average of 45 hours per year stuck in traffic jams in 2016.

More seriously for those who live alongside it, it throws out dangerously high levels of pollution.

The pressure group Respire le Périph has been pressuring the government to do something to address the emission levels, which can affect the health of pregnant women, children and those who suffer from respiratory conditions.

Gantzer says these new plans could be put in place by 2035, but that depends - among other things - on him winning next year's Paris mayoral race when he will be running against the current mayor Anne Hidalgo.

 

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