The inhabitants of Île-de-France expected it, but 185 kilometers of lanes reserved exclusively for accredited people for two and a half months, it is nevertheless “maximum disorder and a major inconvenience for all Ile-de-France residents who work and need to travel to go to work as well as for work”, for Yves, a reader of 20 minutes.
The Paris Olympics will involve some 136 municipalities in the Île-de-France region, already widely known for its congested road traffic. Not to mention the Paralympic Games, from August 28 to September 8, 2024, which will take place when the school year has resumed and the “August truce” has ended, with the return to the transport networks of “everyday users” .
An experiment that could last
For Florent Bardon, mobility coordinator for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, “these lanes will have an impact on the rest of the traffic”, he said during a webinar for freight professionals.
“Modeling studies are still in progress to finalize all the perimeters, and in particular to identify where and at what times we will have the main difficulties on the road network, and therefore define alternative routes. All of this data – modified circulation perimeter and modelling, should be available by the summer of 2023″.
But for Jean-André Lasserre, program director InterLUD, which promotes the deployment of sustainable urban logistics approaches for freight, the inhabitants of Île-de-France have every interest in getting used to these changes. “It’s a unique opportunity to see how to optimize and experiment with collaborations, tools, which will survive the Games, since their ambition is to work on the sustainable dimension”.
Not enough to reassure our readers, like Jean who sees beyond the Olympic Games: “What worries me is that these Olympic routes are likely to remain in place after the Olympic Games and will become widespread throughout Greater Paris”. Or Guillaume, for whom plan B is obvious: “Go by bike or flee Paris during the summer of 2024”.
Towards the exodus of Ile-de-France residents in the summer of 2024?
These 185 kilometers constitute a perimeter defined by a decree of May 2022. It will therefore be reserved for accredited persons, that is to say “all the athletes, the media, the Olympic family who will circulate either in private vehicles , or by shuttles chartered by Paris 2024. These lanes will also be reserved for emergency vehicles, public transport, taxis, explains Florent Bardon. It is planned to activate these reserved lanes between July 1 and September 15, 2024. They will operate during the day between 6 a.m. and midnight, and at night between midnight and 6 a.m., they will remain open to all traffic”.
The director of the InTerLUD program is confident about the adaptability of the inhabitants of Paris and its region: “All the actors are enthusiastic and have a strong desire to play the game and make their contributions. With a collaborative and co-construction approach, which is part of the post-Games period, it is possible to prepare for constraints, to innovate to find solutions and to work together by sharing information”.
However, the testimonies 20 minutes was able to garner lack that touch of optimism. Daniel, a craftsman, who works very regularly in Paris, talks about ceasing his activity during the Olympics: “I get there from the A13, I come from the western suburbs. It’s going to be hell.”
Philippe is even more radical. “I’m closing my company at the end of 2023 or in the first quarter of 2024, I’m fed up with all that: 5 to 6 hours a day by car to visit the construction sites in progress and those to come… It’s too much, after the Covid, it’s time to change your life! “. The director of the InTerLUD program wishes to recall that “it is those who have brought Paris to life during the confinement who are tested by these Games, they know how to work in a very constrained environment on a daily basis”. May be too much.
The latest editions, an example to draw inspiration from
For InTerLUD, the time is now for practical cases: “We must quickly switch to operations and find solutions for people, so that they know how to organize themselves, what the access conditions will be and of circulation”, maintains Jean-André Lasserre. For Jacques, on the other hand, these Olympic routes are nothing less than a privatization of public space. “People who use their car to go to work (often under duress) will struggle for months in extra traffic jams. Where has the sense of collective interest gone? Why have suburban citizens become second-class people? Should we hope for a return of “yellow vests”? “, he protests.
Jean-André Lasserre pleads for a “collaborative intelligence”. “We look at what happened in London. We are thinking of an impact study before and after the Games”. Jonas, another reader of 20 minutes also argues for this scenario. “I live in the inner suburbs and I have a car that I try to use the least, because of the many traffic jams. It therefore seems essential to me to eventually reduce the number of voices on the main roads, peripherals included, so that only people who have no other alternatives take the car”.
“In London, the survey showed that a number of economic operators maintained the organizations and practices that they had launched within the framework of the Games, narrates the director of InTerLUD. When we look at the feedback on London, the issue of information before and during the Games proved to be essential”.
A year and a half before the Olympic Games in Paris, the anticipation seems to be on everyone’s lips to succeed in this XXL bet as well as possible, for the participants in the great raout, but also for the Ile-de-France residents. “Because, as Florent Bardon reminded us, it is not just the spectators of the Olympic Games, there are obviously all the inhabitants of Île-de-France who will continue their lives at the same time”.