With 240 days to go until the 2024 Olympic Games, Parisians know a little more about what to expect. On Wednesday, the prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, and the president of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet, detailed the agenda for the establishment of security perimeters around the Olympic sites in the city of Paris. As a direct consequence, several major roads and squares are affected and will have to close to traffic even before the start of the Paris Olympic Games.
La Concorde completely closed from June 1st
The first area concerned, the Place de la Concorde, will experience its first disruptions from next March. The installation of the security perimeter will begin with the east of the square, already occupied by the Rugby Village which has not yet been dismantled, before a gradual expansion as the year progresses. The goal is that from June 1, the Place de la Concorde will be "completely closed to traffic," announced the president of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games, Tony Estanguet.
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A second area between the Champs de Mars, the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero has been established and will also be affected from March. "At that time, 10% of the Champ de Mars and 20% of the Trocadero will be occupied," said Tony Estanguet. Here too, the expansion of the area closed to traffic will be carried out gradually with all the Trocadero and Champ de Mars gardens, the southern part of the Place du Trocadéro, as well as on the Avenue des Nations Unies and the Pont d'Iéna.
The Alexandre III Bridge closed from 17 May
The last perimeter will be set up a little later in the spring around the Grand Palais des Invalides and the Pont Alexandre III. The start of operations will take place in mid-April "without any impact on traffic at first", says Tony Estanguet. The Alexandre III Bridge will close a month later, on 17 May, "to be completely ready for the Games".
For the opening ceremony, the first operations will take place on the low quays from the beginning of June, to occupy all the bridges concerned by the ceremony from July. The dismantling of all these security perimeters will take place from the beginning of August for the opening ceremony, and from September for the other areas.