Internet Users Mock Paris’ “Pedestrian Parking” Initiative

Several Internet users are taken aback by developments, in the center of the capital, consisting in “overflowing”, in places, the sidewalk on the roadway.

The photo has gone viral on Twitter. Published Monday by a user under the hashtag #saccageparis, we see, near the sidewalk, part of the roadway framed by studs, with pedestrian markings on the ground. Accompanying this photo, this comment: “The town hall of Paris has just invented the “pedestrian squares”: since we tell you that Anne Hidalgo has revolutionized mobility in Paris… Geniuses.

This photo was taken rue Saintonge, in the heart of the Marais district (3rd arrondissement). A track which was the subject, in May, of heavy work on 500 meters. Present more or less continuously on the roadway, these pedestrian markings are intriguing.

Florent Giry, deputy mayor of central Paris, in charge of roads, mobility and site management, had detailed, on May 3 on Twitter, the initial objective of the site. “Bring an old street up to standard, and free up 4 meters of roadway so that the rescue trucks can stabilize the intervention ladders.” To do this, the deputy indicated that it was necessary to remove “almost all” the parking spaces. “What to do with the space freed up to avoid illegal parking?” wondered then the chosen one. Answer: “Pedestrians make way! The street becomes a meeting area, the sidewalks are widened by street furniture.” And to evoke “classic barriers and bollards to extend the space for pedestrians, without heavy work”.

But as the work is completed, Internet users have had a field day mocking what they quickly defined as “pedestrian parking“. Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie, PS senator from Paris, thought she was doing the right thing by defending this initiative on Twitter. “Protecting parents in front of schools without two wheels parked does that speak to you?” A shaky defense, knowing that no school… except for the superior, is installed in this street.

“Make room for wheelchairs”

Contacted by CheckNews, David Belliard, deputy mayor of the city of Paris responsible, among other things, for the transformation of public space, confirms the explanations of Florent Giry. “We have removed parking spaces to create delivery spaces, allow emergency interventions, and above all allow pedestrians to move off tiny sidewalks to make room for wheelchairs or strollers.”

Deputy chief of staff to the mayor of central Paris, Alexiane Zelinsky adds: “We have retained the development of an extension of the sidewalk using street furniture (posts and barriers). The simple “hard” expansion of the sidewalk would have required several months of work and a budget far exceeding the cost of renovating the roadway itself and therefore impossible within the framework of this work.

It should be noted that this type of layout, called “coronatrottoirs”, has already existed since 2020 rue du Poitou or rue Vieille-du-Temple. As for the pictograms on the ground, they therefore indicate that pedestrians can circulate in these areas in complete peace of mind.

Marie-Celine Dubois and Leo Guguen

This article was produced as part of a partnership with the CFPJ for the promotion 64 application journal.

2023-07-19 15:13:22
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