The metropolis plans to invest 25 million euros to renovate existing facilities and create new ones. In particular, it wishes to secure the surroundings of schools.

The metropolis of Lyon adopted its very first Pedestrian Plan on Monday. A device which must make it possible “to make safe or to improve the comfort of pedestrians”, specifies the metropolis in a press release.

In total, 25 million euros will be invested to renovate existing sidewalks, create new facilities for pedestrians and “encourage collective awareness around the benefits of walking”.

The president of the metropolis, Bruno Bernard, was also delighted with this decision, taken by the metropolitan council.

“It is by working carefully with the mayors of the 59 municipalities of the Metropolis as well as on the occasion of all urban projects such as Gratte-ciel Nord in Villeurbanne, the redevelopment of the right bank of the Rhône in Lyon or the project of development of bus corridors with SYTRAL Mobilités in the Val de Saône, for example, that we will manage to encourage walking.”

Securing the surroundings of colleges

With this new plan, the metropolis is emphasizing schools, particularly colleges, whose surroundings will be secure. Among the measures issued: the “total or partial limitation of automobile traffic” in order to “return the space thus freed up to children”.

The metropolis specifies that 47 schools have already been fitted out in this direction since the summer of 2020. A dozen other colleges which have benefited from this new Pedestrian Plan have already been identified. Some of them were to see security work begin this summer.

A budget of 1.6 million euros, dedicated to securing the surroundings of colleges, was voted by the Standing Committee last April.

Traffic lights and speed limit

Another measure carried by this project: the generalization of the speed limit to 30 km/h. The metropolis is delighted to have already activated this measure in five municipalities, including the city of Lyon, and ensures that a dozen other municipalities had to adopt it during the year.

The metropolis has also planned to invest in the modernization of traffic lights, with in particular the installation of lights equipped with voice synthesis, and the extension of “green” times for pedestrians.

The metropolis is already in the process of installing “pedestrian counters” in order to measure the flow of pedestrians on the metropolitan territory. She announces that communication campaigns will be put in place to inform users about the work undertaken and to encourage them to walk.

She also wants to “promote the learning of good reflexes from an early age” and is therefore planning mobility plans in several colleges in the metropolis.