After the 2024 Olympic Games end, Paris plans to close two lanes of its beltway to regular traffic in a bid to reduce air and noise pollution.
The plan was announced Wednesday by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, fulfilling a long-term promise to remodel the Boulevard Périphérique, a beltway that has long been notorious for its congestion and pollution. It would transform the highway “from a grey belt to a green belt,” said Hidalgo, by reserving one lane in each direction for taxis, buses, car-pooling and emergency access. Overall, the highway would shrink to three fully accessible lanes in each direction, from a current norm of four.
