Greater Lyon wants to give back space to pedestrians
Posted Sep 22, 2022, 9:00 AM
After cycling, walking. Faithful to its objective of building a “peaceful metropolis”, Greater Lyon will dedicate 25 million euros of investment to the renovation of its degraded sidewalks, as well as to the creation of new pedestrian facilities. “We have decided to launch the first pedestrian plan for the Métropole de Lyon with dedicated resources within the framework of the 320 million euros dedicated to active mobility so that walking regains its privileged place in daily mobility”, explains Bruno Bernard, president of Greater Lyon.
Already, last year, more than 100 major sidewalk repair sites had been included in the activity program of local road services, often during work on the streets. By combining this work with that carried out in 2020, Greater Lyon has identified more than 150 sidewalk widenings, the creation of nearly 500 lowered sidewalks, 70 new crossing platforms and 250 new pedestrian crossings.
Diagnosis on the condition of the sidewalks
In the future, the community intends to cross-reference the diagnostics on the condition of the sidewalks carried out by its services with the levels of attendance to define the work it will prioritize to promote walking. However, it has already announced efforts focused primarily on the surroundings of schools thanks to a budget of 1.6 million to develop and secure the surroundings of colleges.
This pedestrian plan is accompanied by actions to secure walkers’ routes. Five municipalities in metropolitan France have notably limited the speed of automobile traffic to 30 km/h, while others have equipped themselves with traffic lights that are broadcast for longer at pedestrian crossings. On these bases, the metropolis now wishes to multiply initiatives to raise awareness of the practice of walking.
Pedestrian counters
A few months, location plans are deployed on street furniture to facilitate the paths. In addition, about thirty pedestrian counters are being installed, to better quantify and enhance pedestrian flows in the territory. Similarly, to encourage the learning of good reflexes from an early age, Greater Lyon continues to support the deployment of walking buses and to undertake school mobility plans in its colleges.
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