On Wednesday, five opposition candidates will discuss Grenoble’s traffic issues at the Chaufferie where the third public meeting for the local UMP primary will be held. This primary will determine the UMP candidate for Grenoble’s mayoral election next March. Place Gre’net brings you a detailed infographic visualization of the stakes at hand in Grenoble’s ever-growing traffic dilemma.
Commuting, parking and pollution are key issues for the region’s workforce that must travel through the conglomeration during rush hour. Place Gre’net highlights some key data to go along with our infographic presentation.
Rush hour in Grenoble translates to 40,000 commuters driving into the city and 20,000 city dwellers driving out. Workers driving from the Grésivaudan, the Voironnais and the Sud Grenoblois count for more than 15% of the conglomeration’s traffic. Adding to the commuters” ordeal, parking in the city is a challenge in and of itself.
The time spent parking or sitting in bottlenecks is in part responsible for the city’s spikes in air pollution. Spikes that have become so recurrent they are sometimes perceived to be a necessary evil for the economic livelihood of the city.
Grenoble’s geographical constraints and urban planning make it difficult to solve rush hour bottlenecks by reorganizing the city’s major roads.
The organizers of the UMP primary have asked the candidates how they plan to deal with this « traffic paralysis. » This Wednesday evening, the five candidates will give their answers to the residents of Grenoble.
The more experienced negotiators lean towards large scale projects that go beyond the scope of local authorities, while the youngest candidates propose solutions that focus on going green and changing commuters’ methods of locomotion. The candidates have agreed that no matter the outcome of the primary, all contenders will be on the UMP ticket and campaign together on these proposed solutions.
Victor Guilbert
Translation by Jeremy Burns-Rupp
Translation by Jeremy Burns-Rupp
