The Minister for Transport, Clément Beaune, warned in mid-November: travel and traffic conditions in the Paris region will be “hardcore” during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2024 (from July 26 to August 11, then from August 28 to September 8).
This is the reason why, a few days earlier, one of the main players in the preparation of the event had underlined the importance of this end of year: it was going to be necessary, he explained, to carry out work of anticipation, information and consultation with the various stakeholders concerned about the constraints that the Games will impose.
Here we are. Laurent Nuñez, the Paris police prefect, revealed, in an exclusive interview with Le Parisien, what the security perimeters will be around the sites as well as the elements of traffic regulation.
Four zones have been defined. They will be put in place for all the places where competitions will be held in Ile-de-France, as well as around the athletes’ and media villages and at the festivities.
Two of these areas will be located near the sites. These are the safety zones.
A first level will consist of a protection perimeter, or SILT (from the internal security and fight against terrorism law). To enter, you will have to be searched.
According to the prefecture, this should not concern local residents, except for the opening ceremony and for a few rare sites.
A second level, called the “organizing perimeter”, will only be accessible to accredited people (organization, athletes and management, journalists, service providers, etc.) or with a ticket.
Regarding traffic, here too two levels have been defined, with a blue perimeter and a red perimeter. Both will concern motorized vehicles (two or four wheels), but not bicycles or pedestrians.
In the blue zone, described as a “transit traffic” zone, only the vehicles of people who live there, work there or who have to go to a business or restaurant (delivery workers) will be authorized to circulate.
In the red zone, vehicle circulation will be prohibited, unless there is an exemption. The police headquarters emphasizes that the pedestrian flow will be high and that the aim is to avoid the risk of disruption or attack. Specific access points will also be defined.
Maps showing these four perimeters will be put online soon.
Yes and no.
The restrictions will be in place during the entire Olympic and Paralympic Games. Except in Paris Center (Concorde, Invalides, Grand Palais, Champ-de-Mars, Trocadéro), where the sites will be closed to traffic shortly before the start of the Games.
However, traffic restrictions will only be applied two and a half hours before the start of the competitions and up to one hour after them. The prefecture emphasizes, however, that for Paris Center the traffic restrictions “could be effective from 6:30 a.m. to midnight”.
These areas will be accessible to residents with car parks or parking spaces, as well as those responsible for visiting vulnerable people.
Emergency and rescue, recovery or delivery vehicles will also be able to circulate there. The same as taxis and VTCs, but only to drop off passengers and provided you have proof.
An online platform will be set up “in March at the earliest, in April at the latest”, according to the police prefect. You will need to register there and provide proof (of address, in particular). This will give access to a QR code, which will be necessary to present during checks.
The police headquarters also emphasizes that it is working with the City of Paris and other communities to implement, for the most vulnerable people or those who do not have access to the Internet, a badge or proof.
No. The prefecture nevertheless warns that there will be controls: people who enter these perimeters must be able to justify the reason for their travel.
Stations located in the red and blue traffic perimeters will be able to remain open.
Those overlooking the two areas located closest to the sites will be closed. “We cannot have a metro station that leaves inside a protective perimeter with people who have not been searched,” explains the police prefect.
The latter also points out that some of the stations close to the sites will close because they are too small to absorb the expected flow of spectators.
Yes. The protection perimeter (SILT) will be put in place several days before the ceremony, scheduled for July 26, and will concern local residents.
The traffic ban perimeter will be activated a few hours before the start of the ceremony and will end when it is over.
Entry of vehicles will be limited to the strict minimum: this will concern people returning home, or to the hotel, or those who have a ticket for the ceremony.
According to the police chief, the principle will be to “leave industrial and commercial establishments open” – including bars and restaurants – located in this area. “But, we will have to justify the fact that we fall within the scope and, therefore, there will necessarily be a registration on the platform,” he explains.
Registration on this platform will also be necessary for Parisians who wish to invite friends to view the ceremony from their window. They will need to provide the identities of the people invited. For houseboats, it will be the same principle.
“It is essential to integrate urban logistics into decisions relating to traffic restrictions,” declared the Union of Transport and Logistics Companies of France (Union TLF), in a press release published on Wednesday, while deploring not “not knowing today the precise mapping of security zones, nor the modalities of access to the different zones for transporters”.
“In the Greater Paris metropolis, logistics activity represents a flow of nearly 3 million movements of goods per week, that’s 1.1 million in Paris,” recalled the professional organization, insisting on the fact that “economic and social life must continue during the Games” and that “for this, carriers must be able to supply our traders, our hospitals, individuals…”.
