Madam Mayor,
Since the deconfinement last May, you have created 49 km of provisional cycle paths in Paris, marked with yellow plots and markings on the ground.
You wanted to go fast: for two years, Parisians' enthusiasm for cycling has not wavered.
The number of cyclists doubles every year.
In 2019, the transport strike against the pension reform served as a trigger.
Then in 2020, the Covid crisis and the fear of contamination in public transport confirmed the trend.
Between September 2020 and September 2019, bicycle traffic increased by 66%.
Since your election in 2014, nearly 1,000 km have already been developed in the capital, but cyclists consider them to be of variable quality: many are only misinterpretations indicated on the road by a white arrow. Entire neighborhoods have only tracks with no separation from motorized traffic. Many crossroads have no cycling facilities and remain dangerous. In République and Bastille, for example, cycle paths are considered confusing and inconvenient.
Conversely, coronapistes are just real circuits that protect bikes from traffic, a weighty argument for the safety of cyclists. Alas, today, the provisional drags on. For many, these famous coronapistes, with their plastic studs and yellow markings on the ground, disfigure the most beautiful arteries of the capital such as the rue de Rivoli or the boulevard Saint-Michel. Recently, on social networks, they were pointed out by the hashtag #saccageparis as one of the factors in the ugliness of the capital. Without forgetting the “vélobox”, these closed shelters placed in about fifty streets considered to be rather unsightly.
At the Parisien-Today in France, we would therefore like to know if you intend to perpetuate all of these 49 km of coronapists?
When do you intend to start the work?
Could you give us a schedule?
The readers, Madam Mayor, are eager to read your response.
Anne Hidalgo's response: "The whole network will be finalized before the Olympic Games"
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
LP / Arnaud Dumontier
The answer has the merit of being clear. “Yes, the coronapistes will all be perpetuated” writes Anne Hidalgo, who even sets, for the first time, a deadline for the end of the work on the 49 km concerned: “A strict timetable will have to be kept so that all network be finalized before the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. ”So in three years. The mayor promises a broad consultation and connects several examples: “the works of the avenue of the Republic and those of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine between Faidherbe and Nation will be launched this summer. Other tracks, such as those on boulevard Saint-Michel, rue Saint-Jacques, rue d'Amsterdam or even rue de Vaugirard, will follow. Otherwise,the connection between Place de la République and the Grands Boulevards will be strengthened and we are studying a modification of the traffic lights at Place de la Bastille to make cycling trips easier. "
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The mayor of Paris takes the opportunity to praise these secure cycle paths: “Deployed on the occasion of the first deconfinement, in record time, they are now part of the daily life of Parisians who have quickly acquired them. adopted […] In some streets, there are now more bicycles than cars.
On the other hand, Anne Hidalgo says nothing about the visual aspect of these unsightly tracks marked in yellow on the road and often bordered by plastic blocks of the same color which are not the best effect.
She prefers to focus on the elegance of future equipment: “all cycle paths must respect our furniture and our urban heritage so that the installations, even temporary, blend harmoniously into the Parisian landscape. On this point, we will work in close collaboration with the Architects of Buildings of France (ABF). Finally, the mayor concludes with a promise to limit bicycle theft: “From this fall, we will focus on secure parking”.
