The environmentalist majority of Lyon unveiled its "Presqu'île à vivre" plan on Friday March 10, aimed at pedestrianizing and limiting motor vehicle traffic in the hypercentre of Lyon by 2026.
Located in the heart of the city between the Rhône and the Saône, the part of the city center between Place Bellecour and the slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill will thus be reserved for pedestrians, bicycles, buses, residents and authorized personnel only (deliverymen, taxis, rescue, craftsmen, etc.).
"The goal is to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of this area, to adapt the latter to climate change, to enhance the heritage registered with Unesco and to support its economic prosperity and its cultural dynamism", praised in front of the press the EELV mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet.
Thus, the environmentalist majority of the metropolis - which has road authority over the territory - must vote at the end of March on the main lines of this plan which plans to redevelop 42.000 m2 of public space into pedestrian paths or into limited traffic zones (ZTL) .
Unauthorized motorists will therefore have to bypass these ZTLs, which have already been deployed in cities such as Nantes, Rennes, Grenoble and, soon, Paris.
Faced with traffic jams to be expected, Mr. Doucet and the president of the metropolis Bruno Bernard expect 20 to 30% of motorists to transfer to other modes of transport. According to them, car traffic has already dropped by 10% between 2019 and 2022 in the metropolis.
For Mr. Bernard, the objective is clear: "eliminate transit on the Peninsula and thus reduce car traffic" in this part of the city which notably welcomes 6 million tourists a year.
Resulting from a consultation that will continue in the months to come, the plan provides in particular from 2025 for the pedestrianization of the entire rue de la République, a crossroad that connects the emblematic squares of Terreaux and Bellecour.
Also planned, in the north, is the establishment of a pedestrian area at the bottom of the slopes of the Croix-Rousse, the revegetation of several lanes and the improvement of public transport services by bus.
The works, with an estimated budget of between 20 and 25 million euros, should begin in the summer of 2023.
