The Paris city hall has started to remove certain directional signs posted in the capital for decades. Deemed “obsolete” in the age of GPS, they clutter the sidewalks and the countryside. But, Anne Hidalgo did not seem to know …
” Chatelet “,” Lyon station “,” Concorde ” or ” Trocadero “. For decades, directional signs have been installed on tall poles in many streets of Paris. Useful for locating the direction of a district, a hospital or a train station, they are nevertheless considered “obsolete” by the town hall, which intends to withdraw them little by little.
Near the Gare de Lyon, removal of one of the 1800 old traffic signs that clutter up public space and the countryside in Paris. One step among others in the requalification and embellishment of our streets! pic.twitter.com/PMrweYsrne
– Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie (@EPierreMarie) October 8, 2021
Thursday October 7, our colleagues from France Blue followed the removal of one of the white panels circled in black in the XIIe district of Paris. Caroline Grandjean, director of roads and transport, affirms that these indicative signs “ impede the progress of wheelchairs, strollers and people “. This is commendable when you are used to walking on the city’s narrow sidewalks, cluttered with street furniture and poles of all kinds. Emmanuel Grégoire, First Deputy Mayor of Paris, asserts that these panels ” met a need 20 or 30 years ago “But that they have become” totally obsolete Since the rise of GPS.
The mayor of Paris “not aware”
The next day, the mayor of Paris was questioned by journalist Wendy Bouchard. She seems to discover the dismantling: ” I really am not aware of the removal of these tall masts », She answers to the microphone of France Blue. ” If they are removed, it is surely to be replaced, we need to have masts », Explains the city councilor. According to her, it is rather ” cleaning “Of the landscape, because the signage is sometimes too important and” interferes with the signage itself “.
The cleaning of these signs also corresponds to the continual reorganization of the city, with signs in the wrong place: now pedestrian streets, prohibited directions, cycle paths… The signs removed, approximately 1,800 out of the 80 000 signs in the capital, should end at the recycling center. Ultimately, only so-called “essential” signs should remain, such as those indicating parking lots or hospitals.
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