Car traffic will be drastically reduced in the heart of Paris next year under a plan by the city's mayor, the latest step in her goal of greening one of the densest urban landscapes in Europe.

Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist politician who is eyeing a bid for the presidency next year, announced a public consultation on the project Wednesday that will last until October.

It would ban most vehicles from the Paris Centre district, formerly the first four arrondissements of the capital that includes the two islands on the Seine river and the winding narrow streets of the Marais.

The zone would also extend across a large swath of the historic Left Bank and its Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighbourhood, the chic haunt of Paris' intellectual elite.

"This isn't about eliminating all traffic" and there is no plan for a congestion charge, said David Belliard, the Greens deputy mayor in charge of transport.

"Residents, vehicles for the disabled, taxis, professionals and shop owners will still be able to enter," he said.

Officials have not yet decided if motorcycles or tourist buses will be allowed inside a zone that encompasses landmarks such as Notre-Dame cathedral and the Louvre museum.

Hidalgo easily won re-election last year with promises of tackling pollution by building new bus and cycle lanes and reclaiming many roads for pedestrians, including the expressways on the banks of the Seine.

But critics accuse her of anti-car policies that cause huge traffic headaches for residents as well as millions of people living in suburbs with no viable public transport options for getting to work in the city.

Aurelien Veron, a rightwing opponent on the city council, denounced the public consultation as a "foregone conclusion," saying Hidalgo "is basically asking drivers if they want to be eaten roasted or boiled."

Related Links
Carbon Worlds - where graphite, diamond, amorphous, fullerenes meet

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Cotton wool proves effective in separating single-wall carbon nanotubes
Kazan, Russia (SPX) Apr 26, 2021
The project was kickstarted in 2017 when a delegation of YTC America (subsidiary of Yazaki Corporation) visited Kazan Federal University. During the talks, YTC suggested that KFU participate in developing effective methods of separating single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) into metallic and semiconducting specimens. This was to be done on Tuball tubes produced by OCSiAl, since they are the only ones currently available in industrial quantities. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) is a family of 1D nanostructu ... read more