Paris’ Plan to Kick Cars Off Its Riverbanks

Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2010
Paris’ Plan to Kick Cars Off Its Riverbanks
By Jeffrey T. Iverson / Paris

On a recent Sunday in Paris, stroller-pushing parents, rollerbladers and
cyclists eased their way up and down an unusually tranquil stretch of
the Seine’s left bank. Normally this road is filled with thousands of
cars zipping along, but once a week it is transformed into an oasis of
calm as part of an experiment by City Hall to see what happens when cars
are banned from Paris’ riverbanks. So far the experiment, which has
been going on for the past few years, is proving popular. Delphine
Damourette, 31, a Montmarte resident whose cobblestoned neighborhood is a
rollerblader’s hell, says the traffic-free Sundays give her a taste of
her city as she most loves it — during summer vacation, when Paris slows
down, cars disappear, and pedestrians reclaim the Seine. « It would be
great if Paris were like this all year long, » she says. Soon, she may
get her wish.

If Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has his way, by 2012 the 1.2 miles of left
bank expressway between the Musée d’Orsay and the Alma bridge will be
permanently closed to automobiles, while traffic on the right bank will
be slowed, all with the goal of turning the urban highway into a « pretty
urban boulevard. » The estimated $50 million project — dubbed « the
reconquest of the banks of the Seine » — calls for the development of 35
acres of riverside, with cafés, sports facilities and floating islands.
« It’s about reducing pollution and automobile traffic, and giving
Parisians more opportunities for happiness, » Delanoë said at the April
14 project unveiling. « If we succeed in doing this, I believe it will
profoundly change Paris. » (See a photo gallery of 21st century expansion
in Paris.)

But Parisians have already been through several years of policies — some
drastic, some less so — aimed at ending the automobile’s reign in the
capital. Are they ready for another transformative transportation
project? Deputy Mayor for the Environment Denis Baupin, who as
transportation chief from 2001-2008 launched tramways, bus lanes, bike
paths, the Vélib’ public bikeshare and other schemes — all while
weathering virulent criticism and monikers like Khmer Vert — thinks they
are. « If we can talk about reconquering the banks of the Seine today,
it’s because we first had the Sunday [closures] … which allowed people
to acclimate to the idea that it was possible, pleasant and positive, »
he tells TIME. « Mentalities have changed, and desire has grown for a
city that’s going somewhere, that’s transforming and becoming more
ecological. »

In seeking to take back the Seine, though, City Hall has started a new
fight on one of the most historic battlegrounds in Paris for competing
visions of the capital. The 1967 creation of the right bank expressway
was part of a wider plan to crisscross the capital with high-speed
roads, reflecting former President George Pompidou’s belief that « Paris
must adapt itself to the automobile. » That philosophy hit a roadblock in
1975 when grassroots opposition successfully blocked plans for an
elevated left bank expressway that would have passed in front of Notre
Dame. The victory was a benchmark for France’s nascent green movement
and constituted « the last gasp of the Los Angelesation of Paris, » says
Eric Britton, Paris-based economist and founder of the transport think
tank New Mobility Agenda. « It was the beginning of another idea about
how to handle mobility, transport infrastructure and the environment in
general. » (See a photo gallery of how the Eiffel Tower was constructed.)

Yet 35 years later, more than 30,000 cars still zip down the Seine
expressways every day, and for critics of Delanoë’s idea, like French
radio commentator Marion Ruggieri, they are « no less than the umbilical
cord of the capital for everyone working and living in the suburbs. »
Worried about how closing the river’s banks to traffic will affect those
who depend on their cars to make a living, Ruggieri told France INFO
radio, « Bertrand Delanoë wants a museum city, petrified in its clichés,
reserved to tourists and the privileged, all this in the name of
pollution. »

Other detractors scoff at City Hall’s claims that traffic diverted by
the project will be absorbed into the upper quays and that drivers’
commutes will only increase by 6 minutes. Environment deputy mayor
Baupin, however, is confident that, when forced to, people will change
their habits. It’s already happened. Thanks to municipal policies such
as lowering speed limits and replacing thousands of parking spaces with
wider sidewalks and bike and bus lanes, daily car trips in Paris were
reduced by 450,000 from 2001-2008. The hope is that by making the river
banks automobile-free, more drivers will leave their cars at home and
use the east-west-running bus lines, metro, and RER commuter trains
along the Seine — all currently under expansion. (See how Paris is
planning to spice up its appeal to tourists.)

But in the end, they may have no choice. « This thing is inevitable, the
reclaiming of waterways is happening worldwide, » says Britton. Major
cities like Bordeaux and Lyon have banned automobiles from their river
banks in recent years and invested millions to develop green promenades,
tramways and other transportation alternatives — projects widely
embraced by residents today after initial skepticism. Outside of France,
transformations have taken place even in industrial cities like Bilbao
in Spain — which since the 1990s has cleaned up the infamously polluted
Nervión river and moved its port downstream to reclaim its banks — and
Kaohsiung in Taiwan, the country’s busiest port, where the city has
transformed shipyards and military complexes into green space and
leisure areas.

Baupin believes that all these examples point to a permanent shifting of
the tides. « Not a city in Europe would build the Georges Pompidou
expressway today, » says Baupin. « The movement has finally reversed. »
Technically that won’t be confirmed until Paris City Council votes on
the project in July. But with the right bank to still be partially
occupied by cars whatever happens, Baupin and the Greens won’t be fully
satisfied. « This is only a step, » he says. It seems the banks of the
Seine haven’t seen their last battle yet.