A public investigation concerning the air quality in Grenoble’s urban area was launched on Monday the 30th of September. While the priority air-quality zone project (Zapa) seems to be at a standstill, for lack of a pre-existing legislation at the national level, a new measure called the limited traffic zone (LTZ) could be implemented instead in the urban area.
Whereas the Zapa planned to stop the circulation of the most polluting vehicles when the air quality is at its worst, the LTZ intends to forbid all car traffic at certain times of the day. Experimented in some areas of Nantes, the LTZ has mostly been developed on the other side of the Alps. For example, Rome has forbidden the use of private cars in its city centre, from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm during the week and the whole week-end, greatly improving the air quality of the Italian capital.
In Grenoble, this project is currently in a draft stage and several questions are still unresolved such as the hours when traffic would be forbidden or even which streets would be concerned by this measure. What is certain, however, is that this type of project will not happen as long as the E tram line, as well as the extension of the B tram line, are not in service, as Marc Baïetto, head of the Métro*, says: « We cannot stop the circulation of some vehicles without developing the modal shift or without offering an alternative means of transport. »
Yet, the LTZ stands out in the list of solutions to improve the air quality in the bowl of Grenoble. An issue considered as « top priority » by the head of the Métro*.
* the Métro : the urban community of Grenoble.
VD
Translation by Sandra Bailly, Translator / Desktop Publishing specialist
Tél. 06 95 87 15 27 – sandra.bailly79 [at] gmail.com
Grenoble by night and its famous veil of pollution
