Paris To Create 650 Kilometers Of
Post-Lockdown Cycleways
from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/04/22/paris-to-create-650-kilometers-of-pop-up-corona-cycleways-for-post-lockdown-travel/#5f3c85a354d4
as of Thu Apr 23 2020 15:36:34 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
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Editors' Pick|9,290 views|Apr 22, 2020,11:37am EDT
Paris To Create 650 Kilometers Of Post-Lockdown Cycleways
Carlton Reid Senior Contributor
“Whenever feasible, consider riding bicycles or walking,” recommended the
World Health Organisation (WHO) on April 21 in new technical guidance on
moving around during the COVID-19 outbreak. Cycling and walking are useful
for both social distancing and meeting the minimum requirement for daily
physical activity, states the WHO guidance. Cities around the world have been
giving over road space to cyclists and pedestrians during the pandemic,
providing people with the sort of generous space generally allotted to
motorists.
Paris is the latest global city to roll out emergency bike lanes for the
use of key workers and others during the lockdown. 650 kilometers of
cycleways—including a number of pop-up “corona cycleways”—will be readied for
May 11 when lockdown is eased in France.
Before the Coronavirus crisis, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo had promised that
every street in the city would become cycle-friendly by 2024, but fears of
gridlock caused by increased car traffic once the lockdown is eased are
allowing officials to accelerate Hidalgo’s existing “Plan Vélo” transport
changes.
On January 29, Hidalgo revealed that the space required to make Paris
cyclist-friendly would mostly come at the expense of motoring. Under her
plans, Paris was to remove 72% of its on-street car parking spaces.
During France’s 46-day transit strike last year, many strap-hangers
switched to cycling, doubling the number of cyclists on the roads of Paris.
And some months after the strike the numbers of those who carried on cycling
remained high, with a 131% year-on-year rise in the number of cyclists.
On April 21, the Île-de-France region pledged financial support for the
preexisting RER Vélo project, a network of nine protected cycleways linking
the center of Paris with key suburbs, a concept of the Ile-de-France Bike
Collective advocacy network. €300 million will be provided to part-pay for a
mix of new infrastructure and temporary “corona cycleways,” or TempoRER vélo.
The cycleways mirror the routes of the RER metro rail lines into Paris.
Existing RER Vélo cycleways include an “express” version on Rue de Rivoli,
REVe, for use of e-bikes.
The pop-up cycleways will be marked out with traffic wands.
“The current health crisis forces us to rethink our mobility system,”
Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France, told a French newspaper.
“All levers must be pulled so that the easing of lockdown restrictions
takes place in the best conditions.”
She added that the pop-up cycleways could help prevent the “complete
paralysis of [our] road network, should there be a massive shift towards the
private car.”
Elsewhere in France, 116 towns and cities—including Lille, Dijon, Rouen, Le
Mans, and St Etienne—plan to build temporary cycleways for the duration of
the current lockdown and the next few months.
Meanwhile, the French government is bringing forward the publication of new
national cycleway guidelines. The best-practice guide will be published ahead
of schedule on May 4.
IN ITALY, the city of Milan has told residents that 35 kilometers of city
streets will be made more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists as part of
post-lockdown planning. The Strade Aperte (Open Streets) plan will reallocate
street space from motorists to pedestrians and cyclists.
“‘We cannot think of [lifting lockdown and then seeing] a million more cars
on the road,” Milan transport councillor Marco Granelli told Radio Lombardy
on April 21.
“To avoid this, we will have to strengthen two-wheeled transport. This is
why we're putting in place an extraordinary plan to create new cycle paths,”
he added.
Article updated with information on 116 communities in France adding
temporary cycleways, plus Milan’s Open Streets plan.
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"Work to eat, eat to live, live to bike, bike to work." -- Naomi Bloom
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” — Albert
Einstein
_~o "It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the
_-\<,_ contours of a country best,
(_)/ (_) since you have to sweat up the hills
and coast down them. " ~ Ernest Hemingway
“Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades.”—Eddy Merckx.
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