The birth of this project, which the Marseillais have heard about for years, seems very close. According to our information, at the start of the 2022 school year, the most polluting cars in Marseille will no longer be able to circulate in a vast area of 19.5 km² of the second largest city in France, including most of its hypercentre, in accordance with government provisions. 20 minutes takes stock of the installation of this low-emission zone, also known as ZFE, designed by the metropolis of Aix-Marseille and which would ultimately concern no less than 300,000 Marseillais.
What is already an EPZ?
The Low Emission Zone project aims to restrict traffic in large cities to vehicles deemed to be the most polluting. Four EPZs already exist in France, in the metropolitan area of Lyon, Grenoble, City of Paris and Greater Paris. The recent Climate and Resilience Act provides for the extension of this system to all agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants by 2025. Contacted by 20 minutes, the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition confirms that the implementing decree for these cities will be taken “in a few weeks”. In Marseille, a perimeter was decided in 2019, with 19 km² covering the heart of the Marseille city, delimited by Prado, Rabatau, Jarret, Plombières and integrating Euromed.
When will this be implemented in Marseille?
Rejected several times, in particular at the initiative of the new left-wing municipality which feared that to exclude the most precarious, the ZFE of Marseille would come into force in “next September”, according to several concordant sources interviewed by 20 minutes. “We had a meeting with the metropolis on December 13,” confirms Audrey Gatian, deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of mobility. “There is no delay in the schedule, insists on the side of the metropolis. It is something complex to set up. There was also a change of executive at the head of the town hall. So it takes time. “
What’s the schedule until then?
According to our information, the public consultation will be launched on January 17. “The metropolis wanted it to last until February 17, but I wanted it to last until March 1, so that there was really time for everyone to participate,” says Audrey Gatian. The consultation will take place online and in the town halls of the sector. The metropolis also specifies that all of these consultations will then be analyzed, before the installation during the summer of 2022 of “hundreds of signs to indicate and delimit the area. “