In Paris, the town hall promises “more fluid” traffic on a semi-closed Place de la Concorde

“Traffic conditions on the square are more fluid after closing the eastern part of the square, thus increasing its attractiveness” for motorists, says the Roads and Travel Department (DVD) in an evaluation note sent on Wednesday to the AFP.

Thanks to the installation of a "rugby village" on this same eastern half, on the Tuileries side, last fall during the Rugby World Cup, the town hall reduced the passage there "from 2X8 lanes to 2X4 lanes " and organized a "turn left/right" towards the Champs-Elysées in place of the roundabout around the obelisk.

According to the town hall, the reading of electromagnetic sensors embedded in the roadway and thermal cameras shows that if at night, the number of vehicles per hour was slightly lower than that of June 2023, it was however higher during the day.

Likewise, with this reorganization of traffic on the largest square in Paris, the average speed improves at any time of the day according to the study, up to 5 km/h more than with the crossroads of the 'obelisk.

Still according to the DVD, this “increase in traffic volume in the area of ​​around 10%” is explained by “better readability of traffic rules”.

According to the study, this increase in traffic also allowed “a drop in traffic volumes on the transfer routes”.

In mid-January, PS mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that this eastern half would become, after the Olympics, a continuous pedestrian space between the Tuileries garden and the obelisk.

During the summer, the square will host the so-called urban sports events (BMX freestyle, breakdance, skateboarding and three-person basketball) of the Paris Olympics, as well as the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games (August 28 – September 8).

A petition launched at the end of December asks that the square with its rich history, classified as a historic monument in 1937, "be preserved and no longer used for events which prevent it from being appreciated and visited".