Paris municipal elections: environmentalists want to install a pedestrian crossing on the ring road to transform it into an "urban boulevard"

Built in the 1970s to ease traffic congestion around the capital, the ring road remains one of the busiest roads in Europe today. The idea of ​​gradually transforming it into an urban boulevard therefore represents a significant departure from its original purpose.

"Our goal is that by the end of the term, the ring road will change its morphology and become an urban boulevard," in order to improve the environment for the approximately 500.000 residents who live on either side of it, explained David Belliard, leader of the Parisian ecologists, number three on the left-wing list outside of LFI led by the socialist Emmanuel Grégoire.

The most emblematic proposal is to install a pedestrian crossing directly on the ring road, which would amount to introducing a level crossing on an infrastructure designed as a highway.

"Urban boulevard means installing a pedestrian crossing. It changes everything because the ring road is a motorway loop, and from the moment you break it up, it's no longer the same model," explained Anne Hidalgo's current deputy for the transformation of public space during a press briefing on the edge of the road.

This first crossing would be installed at the Porte de Gentilly to allow pedestrians to cross the ring road separating the town of Gentilly and the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris "safely." The two areas are already connected by an elevated footbridge, allowing pedestrians to cross the infrastructure without disrupting traffic.

The cost of the project is estimated to be between 10 and 15 million euros.

Beyond this initial measure, environmentalists wish to initiate a gradual transformation of the road ring.

If Emmanuel Grégoire's team is elected, it plans in particular to complete the implementation of the carpooling lane by extending it to the entire 35 km of the ring road, for a budget of around 7 million euros, already voted in the Paris Council, David Belliard indicated.

Other developments mentioned also include the transformation of the Bagnolet interchange (east), regularly cited among the most polluted routes in Europe, as well as that of the Porte d'Orléans (south).

The transformation of the ring road into an urban boulevard, presented as a future "living space," would ultimately require reducing the number of traffic lanes and lowering the speed limit to 30 km/h in certain sections. This development would profoundly alter the functioning of this strategic infrastructure for travel in the Île-de-France region.

Environmentalists are highlighting the initial effects of measures already implemented. Since the maximum speed limit was reduced from 70 to 50 km/h in October 2024, noise pollution "has been halved, particularly at night," argued Dan Lert, an elected official and deputy mayor for climate, who sees the ring road as a "public health scandal."

The reduction in speed would also have produced "significant" results on air quality, according to Airparif.

These projects, however, continue to attract criticism from the municipal opposition and some transport specialists, who question the consequences of a profound transformation of an infrastructure designed to absorb very heavy daily traffic.

Rachida Dati, the LR and MoDem candidate for mayor of Paris, who had strongly contested, like the president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse, Anne Hidalgo's decision to reduce the speed limit to 50 km/h, wants to restore the original speed after the installation of soundproofing materials.

With the municipal elections approaching, the future of the ring road could become one of the most sensitive issues in the Parisian debate. While environmentalists advocate a gradual transformation of this infrastructure into an urban boulevard, their opponents fear a major upheaval in traffic patterns around the capital.

For some elected officials and transport specialists, reducing lanes, lowering speed limits, and introducing urban developments on an infrastructure designed to handle very heavy traffic could exacerbate the already significant traffic problems in the Île-de-France region. In a metropolis where the ring road is a key artery for daily commutes, these choices could, in their view, lead to increased congestion and partial traffic gridlock around Paris.

In this context, the transformation of the ring road appears as one of the major issues of the Parisian municipal elections, as its consequences could weigh on the organization of travel throughout the Île-de-France region.