First sanitary cycle paths in Val-de-Marne

In total, 40 km (X 2-way, or 80 km in total) of tracks are programmed in the department, along the major departmental roads. The objective is to double public transport lines like lines 1, 7, 8 and also the RER to encourage users to take their bikes. To do this, motorways are neutralized, reducing car space in favor of the bicycle.

“The challenge is to avoid absolutely that people who will not be able to remain telework on May 11, find themselves confined to public transport or end up on the car because car pollution is also responsible for thousands of premature deaths. We worked upstream with cycling associations and the regional prefecture ”, explains Pierre Garzon, vice-president of the Val-de-Marne Departmental Council.

The idea of ​​doubling the transport routes of cycle routes has in fact already been carried for several years under the name of RER V (for RER Vélo) by the Vélo Ile-de-France collective which brings together around thirty cycling associations. A project suddenly accelerated in its provisional implementation by the coronavirus pandemic Covid 19. Because nothing like the bicycle to move individually and quickly, provided you make room. “A cycle lane makes it possible to circulate four times more people per hour than a car lane”, motivates Louis Belenfant, director of the Vélo Ile-de-France collective.

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Deconfinement: Val-de-Marne creates sanitary cycle paths

This Monday, three projects were launched on the RD7, RD120 and RD86 to double lines 1, 7 and RER A. The deployment strategy adopted was to pass a first time on all axes to draw the yellow lines and cycling pictograms, in order to visualize the 2 x 40 km of provisional cycle paths from May 11. In a second step, reflective bollards will be installed and will materialize the limits of these new raised routes. Total cost of the operation: around € 25,000 per kilometer.

The 3 tracks whose work started on Monday.
The first is located on Paris Avenue (RD120), between Porte de Vincennes and Nogent-sur-Marne station. It runs along metro line 1 and the RER A.
The second is located on the RD7, from Porte d’Italie and to Chevilly-Larue. It runs along metro line 7 then tram T7.
The third takes the RD86, on the traffic lanes which notably runs along the own site of the TVM bus, from Fontenay-sous-Bois to Thiais.

In parallel with the launch of the construction site, discussions with the regional prefecture are continuing on the most complex parts such as the Pompadour junction, a nightmare for cyclists and motorists. While these health routes should become a lasting part of the landscape, first because the coronavirus epidemic is far from over, then because the fight against automobile pollution remains one of the priority public health issues in the agglomeration Parisian, it is a question of reconciling the incentive to take your bike and the fluid circulation of all the vehicles which are intended to stay on the road.

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