Cars driven away from the Seine

CARS will be banned from a large part of the banks of the Seine in Paris in a plan by Mayor Bertrand Delanoë to create a greener, more social atmosphere in the heart of the city.

His e40million project to “reconquer the banks” will be brought into force over the next two years and will mean that 2.5km of the Left Bank expressway – from Quai Voltaire to Quai Branly – will have no traffic except pedestrians and cyclists and will be planted to become leisure areas.

Voie Georges-Pompidou on the Right Bank will be made more urban with traffic lights along its length to slow traffic from an average 50kph to 40kph.