The Mayor of Paris has approved far-reaching plans to transform the city’s iconic Champs Elysees, turning it into a 1.4 mile “extraordinary garden”, after modelling suggested that the scheme will minimise negative effects for mobility.
The designers of the scheme, PCA Stream say the ten year plan will reduce noise, heat and car traffic and improveair quality, spaces given back to pedestrians. This involves reinventing the Étoile intersection as a public plaza geared towards visitors at the Arc de Triomphe, while on the avenue reduced traffic lanes will be carried out incrementally without “penalising” drivers.
Analysis by Aimsun suggests the reduction of space for motorised modes on the Avenue results in a significant reduction in the number of vehicles using the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, which means traffic runs more freely and reduces the travel time on the Avenue by about one minute.
The model shows a marked decrease in traffic on the Avenue, ranging from 20% of the traffic to 40% on certain sections. Traffic will instead use other roads in the vicinity.
Aimsun adds it tested a number of different scenarios to confirm that the plans put forward would improve the area showing how people-centred urban design could put the charm back into the “most beautiful street in the world” without negative side effects for mobility.
(Picture – from PCA Stream video)
