But he knows that the battle will be harsh

Volleyball fields, floating flower market, stairs that are moving toward the Seine... and the shadow of a car on the horizon. It is the face that could offer in 2012, the banks of the Parisian left bank 2 kilometres that separate the bridge of the Alma du Musée d'Orsay. At least if the Mayor of the capital, Bertrand Delanoë, manages to rally the people and politicians in its project development and partial piétonnisation of the tract on banks, to "reduce the car place" and "fight against pollution." What is acquired.

Banks are already partially pedestrian Sunday and each summer in Paris beaches. And the car was really the rating among Parisians: 75 registered plate number dropped by 20 in ten years. The Town Hall considered therefore to top speed. Accommodation will cost 40 million euros in investment, and then 2 million a year in operation, but it is not excluded from entrust the management of certain equipment to the private sector.

"Paris congestion."

City Hall has imagined a different route for each bank. With 40,000 vehicles per day, the right bank is a true urban motorway. It "would have been extremely imprudent brutally cut traffic" except at risk "Paris congestion" from admission of Bertrand Delanoë. The winning idea is to transform this "highway" in a simple "boulevard", by slowing the movement through accommodation - 5 traffic lights, pedestrian crossings - and easy pedestrian access to the River. Motorists will see their time spend an average of 31 to 37 minutes. A quarter of them should, at the time, change route using the device or the high dock, a situation considered manageable by the City Hall, but that will probably not delight residents and motorists. Left bank, where the traffic is much less dense, "the revolution will be much stronger", promises Bertrand Delanoë: a stretch of 2 km shall be made to pedestrians.

The battle will be hard

The Mayor of Paris is two years to complete the work of which will be one of the major projects of his term. But he knows that the battle will be harsh. "It will gueuler, I know," he says. Since yesterday, the CGPME is mounted to the niche to denounce a "dangerous for the Paris economy" project "There cannot be economic activity without movement of men and goods," said its President, Jean-François Roubaud. The elect were not left: many fear of bottlenecks as other projects will take place at the same time in the city (Les Halles, the tramway...).

In addition, some questioned the real benefits of the project in terms of environment. The Mayor of Paris is "squeezing the centre of Paris" by "blocking" and in "polluting the surrounding streets", found the new Centre. The UMP has, for its part, denounced a project which "lack ambition", as limited to the single issue of pathways on banks. They require a prior experiment of three months. A little more positive, the Greens welcomed "some real progress", but also felt "that could have been to go further" in the reconquest of the channels for the benefit of pedestrians. An attempt to clear the land, Bertrand Delanoë announced a series of consultations with the mayors of the borough, the neighbouring departments, the Port of Paris and the elected representatives of the Council of Paris. The discussions promise to be hot this summer, in the Parisian House.

The redevelopment project of the tract on banks on lesechos.fr/diaporamalesechos.fr/diaporama