Inauguration in Seine-Saint-Denis of a key bridge to alleviate urban divides

All in refined vanishing lines, with a dominant white or gray tones, the Pleyel urban crossing stretches above 48 railway tracks and forms the junction between the Saint-Denis-Pleyel station, the future hub of the Grand Paris Express , and the Landy office district.

“If there is one project which embodies the necessary urban seam more than the others, it is this Pleyel urban crossing. We had two pieces of the city separated by railway tracks”, welcomed Mayor PS Mathieu Hanotin during the inauguration in the presence of numerous local and Île-de-France elected officials, as well as the Ministers of Transport and Sports.

With a total cost of 250 million euros excluding taxes, this footbridge should be used by 20.000 people per day. Although the bridge was not designed for the Olympic Games, it should nevertheless see nearly 25% of spectators at the Stade de France and the Olympic Aquatic Center pass through this summer, coming with line 14 which will serve the Stade de France station from June. Saint-Denis-Pleyel.

The Y-shaped structure supports two vast metal naves with openwork, decorated with green plants, as well as stands for seating with a view of the entire north of Paris.

“The big subject was to make a piece of the city (...). It is a space which is intended to be occupied, like when you make a place in a city,” explained Gildas Maguer, general director of Plaine Commune Development.

By 2026, the structure will be lined with another bridge intended for bicycles, buses and cars, to reach a total width of 42 meters. The urban crossing avoids a 1,5 km detour between the two districts it connects.

A territory with fractured urban planning inherited from its industrial period, Seine-Saint-Denis has been engaged for twenty-five years in a phase of long-term urban revitalization.

Land and infrastructure projects are multiplying there to bring urban coherence to a heterogeneous territory. As part of the Olympics works, several bridges and footbridges over motorways or waterways have seen the light of day in the poorest department of mainland France.