What if the magic of the Olympics did not lie so much in obtaining an Olympic title as in the fact that they allow a slew of authorities to agree to improve people’s lives? This is moreover the opinion, without exaggeration, of Anne Hidalgo: “We manage to align a plurality of actors on objectives which would take perhaps 20-30 years to agree”. And this is indeed what we are entitled to think after the announcement this Tuesday morning of a serious boost in the construction of new cycle paths in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis.
At the level of the capital alone, this will mean 30 km of additional tracks which will be added to the 30 km already built or in progress to connect all the Olympic venues. “Half of these new tracks will be hard and the other half in tactical town planning with black posts and white stripes, specifies David Belliard, deputy in charge of mobility. They will concern boulevards Beaumarchais, Haussmann, avenue de Friedland, the Pont du Carrousel and in an East-West rebalancing issue, rue Jean-de-La-Fontaine and avenue Mozart. »
The Dream of Cycling Games
A welcome acceleration as the Plan Vélo of the City of Paris had fallen behind if we refer to its Observatory put online by the association Paris en selle. As of December 20, 2022, we had achieved 17%, i.e. a total of 32.9 km of slopes since 2021. is brilliant, welcomes Camille Hanuise, the director of Paris en Selle. Two years ago, the Cycling Games were a bit of a crazy dream, but it will come true. “The bicycle associations push us when we are not going fast enough, and they are right,” admitted Anne Hidalgo.
In their implementation, the Olympians are inspired a little by the coronapists. On the occasion of an exceptional moment, they are quickly installed with light equipment to then perpetuate them, in hard. Anne Hidalgo thus announces “registering these Olympians for the long term”. “The Olympic Games will leave stadiums but above all tracks that will serve Parisians and Ile-de-France residents for decades,” adds Camille Hanuise. And these Olympians will have a particular visibility since they will be “dressed in the colors of the Olympic Games within 500 meters around the sites”, specifies David Belliard. In addition, 10,000 additional 3,000 Velib’ parking spaces will be deployed during the Games.
The Saint-Denis canal at the center of attention
Seine-Saint-Denis will not be outdone and the department also intends to take advantage of the “accelerator for public facilities and mobility” effect, in the words of its PS president, Stéphane Troussel. He thus promised 25 km of additional tracks, in addition to the 130 km already created. Particular attention will be paid to the 7 km of the Saint-Denis canal which connects the Stade de France to the North-East of Paris. “We want to make it a place of life”, thus underlined the PS mayor of Saint-Denis, Mathieu Hanotin, who also announced that he wanted to “connect the Arena at Porte de la Chapelle to the Stade de France site. »
Obviously, this acceleration is not going to happen without works. And even if the use of tactical town planning should “reduce the impact of the works”, there will be some. Jacques Baudrier, assistant in charge of site monitoring, agrees: “We are on a high plateau, around 15,000 annual sites, which should increase by 500 per year in 2023 and 2024. But you should know that 80% work is done by our dealers. “Necessary work to make Paris a” cycling destination “as Anne Hidalgo wishes, who conveniently recalls that” when you ride a bike, you make your body work and you are in better health than when you are totally sedentary “. Well seen.