A two-lane strip of asphalt over six kilometers, along the Seine, under the sun, at the foot of the towers of La Défense.
Despite the ponies and toddlers in tricycles sometimes bursting onto the roadway, the Departmental 7 became, this Sunday, a dream cycle path for families from neighboring municipalities.
Once a year since September 1999, the quays of the Seine have been closed to traffic.
With an interruption in 2016 and 2017, after several attacks with the ram truck.
Since then, concrete anti-ram car barriers have been installed at each intersection.
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On this summer Sunday, the inhabitants of the participating municipalities (Asnières, Courbevoie, Puteaux) are delighted.
“We live in Puteaux and have family in Asnières, in the district of Bécon,” confided Alix and Samba, a young couple whose two-and-a-half-year-old girl abandoned the bike to find refuge on her father's shoulders.
“Usually we would have taken the car.
Today we will take more than an hour on foot but we are almost there.
It would be nice to repeat the operation at least once in the summer and in the spring.
"
This is also the opinion of Sandra, a cyclist from Courbevoie.
“When you live in the city, having this space is really nice,” says the one who has adopted the bicycle since the end of confinement to avoid going to work, in Colombes, by bus.
“You should do this at least three times a year, in spring, summer and fall.
"
An expensive organization
The operation is so popular that some municipal candidates had made it a campaign theme, notably LREM candidates Aurélie Taquillain in Courbevoie, and Alexandre Brugère in Asnières.
The latter had asked the departmental council for pedestrian quays of the Seine once a month.
But in the three towns concerned by Free Quays, the three re-elected Republican mayors, Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud in Puteaux, Jacques Kossowski in Courbevoie, Manuel Aeschlimann in Asnières, had not committed to renewing the operation several times a year.
One of the reasons for their reluctance is the cost of the event.
"Doing it once a month is too expensive," explains Marie-Pierre Limoge (UDI), first deputy mayor of Courbevoie.
In particular, we must compensate the service station (Editor's note: which obviously does not work without cars and scooters).
This can only be done occasionally.
"" For the city of Asnières alone, Quais Libres represents a budget of € 50,000, including € 29,000 for concrete and anti-intrusion water hammer barriers, "says Marie-Do Aeschlimann (LR), deputy mayor of Asnières delegate for children and education.
More modest experiments
The operation also mobilizes many teams of the Red Cross and dozens of municipal agents for a full Sunday.
Not to mention the activities, even if some have been canceled this year due to health constraints.
“The edition was geared solely towards mobility,” explains Marie-Do Aeschlimann.
Which does not rule out the idea of renewing Free Quays at another time of the year, if the neighboring towns agree.
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The elected officials are aiming for more modest experiments.
In Courbevoie, Marie-Pierre Limoge announces the closure to traffic of a short street in the Bécon station district, Avenue de la Liberté.
“It is a participatory budget project and a commitment from the municipality.
We are working with the traders, ”says the first assistant without giving a date.
The cyclists of the association Better move by bicycle (MDB) demand more and want the pedestrianization of the rue de Bezons, between the city center and the station of Courbevoie.
"The town hall takes time to act," regrets a member of the local MDB branch.
In Asnières, the pedestrianization of rue de la Station was tested this summer.
“It worked well.
However, due to health constraints, we could not do a concert and it did not have the hoped-for appeal, regrets Marie-Do Aeschlimann.
But we have plans for semi-pedestrian areas around Asnières and Bécon stations.
"
Space for terraces
In Puteaux, a street was also closed to traffic this summer, says the town hall.
"The rue Monge is mainly to make a restaurant terrace", comments the representative of MDB from Puteaux, who complains of having made several field visits with the city without convincing results.
It is also to make room for restaurateurs that, on the other bank of the Seine, the municipality of Neuilly has banned a portion of the rue de Longchamp from traffic.
"It was so successful that pedestrianization will be extended beyond September 20", the initial date for the end of the operation, indicates the town hall.
And it will probably be renewed next year.
In the neighboring town of Levallois, the new municipal team is considering a car-free Sunday around the market, when it will reopen at the end of the year.