Paris car-free day: Crowds flock to a pedestrianised Champs-Élysées

Pedestrians walking along the Champs-Elysees, in front of the Arc de Triomphe wrapped in silver by the late artist Christo.
Pedestrians walking along the Champs-Elysees, in front of the Arc de Triomphe wrapped in silver by the late artist Christo. Copyright BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS
By Marthe de Ferrer with Reuters
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Is the future of Paris fully car-free?

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Crowds of Parisians and tourists strolled along the Champs-Élysées avenue on Sunday as a car-free day removed most of the traffic from the French capital's usually busy streets.

Pedestrians wandering along the most famous thoroughfare in Paris could view the Arc de Triomphe in its temporary guise as an art installation. The monument has been covered in silvery wrapping, as conceived by the late artist Christo.

BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS
A woman takes a photo in front of the Champs-Elysees.BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS

"It's our chance to walk on the 'Champs', to look at the Arc de Triomphe face-to-face and not just from the sidewalk," said Annie Matuszewski, a 68-year-old Parisian.

Paris held its first car-free day in 2015 in a central zone, expanding the initiative in 2017 to other districts within the city limits. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has sought to use the annual event to curb vehicle use and reduce air pollution.

"It's our chance to walk on the 'Champs', to look at the Arc de Triomphe face-to-face and not just from the sidewalk."
Annie Matuszewski
Parisian

Other thoroughfares in the capital on Sunday were filled with walkers and cyclists, although buses, taxis and residents using cars for essential journeys could still use some streets.

BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS
"It's our chance to walk on the 'Champs', to look at the Arc de Triomphe face-to-face and not just from the sidewalk."BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS

The Socialist mayor, a candidate in next year's presidential election, has also reduced the speed limit on most of the city's streets to 30 kilometres per hour (19 miles per hour) from 50 kph and pedestrianised some busy roads along the river Seine.

But her policies have irritated motorists, particularly some residents of the suburbs who complain they do not have adequate alternative forms of transport.

"Car-free day is great if we integrate the entire Paris region," said Patrice, a retiree in the suburbs. "Otherwise, it's almost as if they're saying people living in Paris are doing fine inside their perimeter, and everything outside is not worth their attention."

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