On August 30, most of the streets in Paris were traveling at 30 km / h. In the process, the city of Limoges announced that its entire city center would be limited to the same speed from October. A movement to calm traffic in urban areas which has also found an echo in the Capitol. The mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, indeed indicated at the end of August that he wanted to gradually reach 80% of the traffic lanes at 30 km / h.
Jean-Luc Moudenc (@jlmoudenc): “We will go towards 80% of the road network at 30 km / h” in Toulouse pic.twitter.com/xYZKQzpsVL
– BFMTV (@BFMTV) August 30, 2021
“Today, 50% of the streets are at 30 km / h, we will gradually increase and reproduce what we have already done in certain neighborhoods. This is not dogmatism or a change of paradigm, unlike Paris, we do not want to make Toulouse a museum, where there are cars they have to be driven. We want to respond to the demands of people from Toulouse who want to see automobile traffic sent back to structuring axes, ”assures Philippe Perrin, municipal councilor in charge of traffic.
Limit transit traffic in neighborhoods
Since the arrival of navigation aid applications, many drivers have revised their route, passing through neighborhoods to avoid traffic jams on main roads during rush hour. “This is the case for 20% of the traffic thus diverted from the main axes at 50 km / h, it is motorists in transit who are always in a hurry to save time. As soon as the bypass is blocked, they try to bypass it, as in Papus, ”continues the elected official.
In this sector, the transition to zone 30 is being studied, accompanied by a complete revision of the traffic plan. “When we reduce the speed in certain sectors, we revise the traffic and we take the opportunity to give more room to the bike. We thus succeeded in pacifying the Busca district ”, insists the former astronaut, who has already planned the implementation of this measure on the side of rue Legendre in the district of Minimes, or even rue Aristide-Maillol and avenue Maxwell. south of town.
Grande rue Saint-Michel soon to be one-way
A vast construction site is taking shape in the same spirit on the very busy artery of the Grande rue Saint-Michel. From next February, this street which connects the south to the city center will pass in one direction and will leave more room for bicycles. An experiment that will last ten months, and will be the subject of consultation beforehand this winter. “The street must belong to those who live it, less to those who pass there”, affirmed at the end of the week the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc.
A reduction in speed well seen by city bike activists who have been arguing for more than ten years for a city at 30 km / h. “That Toulouse announces it, in principle, it’s a good thing. It’s a shame that this is done in stages, we would be for reversing the rule, for an application of the ideology of 30 km / h everywhere and that the streets at 50 km / h are the exception. I’m afraid it will take a long time, ”says Florian Jutisz, vice-president of the 2 pieds 2roues association.
The latter would in particular be favorable to the creation of circulation loops in neighborhoods, forcing vehicles to exit from where they entered, effectively excluding any through traffic. “We therefore proposed to reverse the flow of traffic in the Minimes district as part of the work on a street under construction, it was not retained, they are still a little cautious. It’s like 20 km / h in the city center, it’s good, but in fact there are not necessarily the adequate arrangements that enforce it, ”concludes the cycling activist.