Paris's Avenue des Champs-Élysées To Get A Green Makeover
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The Champs-Élysées is an iconic Paris landmark. It connects the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The 1.2-mile (1.9km) tree-lined avenue was once a popular place for locals to walk and picnic. However, it is now a tourist hotspot, filled with expensive cafes and designer shops.
The "most beautiful avenue in the world" has also fallen into disrepair. The pavements are cracked and the once-lush trees are struggling to survive. The pollution from the 64,000 cars that pass through daily, surpasses that of Paris's busiest highways.
But if Paris's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has her way, Champs-Élysées will soon be restored to its former glory. Her ambitious $250 million initiative aims to transform the iconic street into "a beautiful garden." The project's first goal is to bring down the pollution by reducing the avenue's eight car lanes to just four. They will be replaced with trees and bike lanes. From 2030, only electric vehicles will be allowed on the Champs-Élysées.
The Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe will also be redesigned. Both areas will be closed off to cars and lined with trees and wide pedestrian streets. The transformation of the Place de la Concorde — the city's largest public square — will be completed in time for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. The rest of the project will be done by 2030.
Resources: Fastcompany.com, CNN.com, Sortiparis.com
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65 Comments
floridaflowersalmost 2 yearsI love Paris- floridaflowersalmost 2 yearsAwesome!!
albdc2012almost 2 yearscool
dream_beyondalmost 2 yearsThats really nice!
love-artalmost 2 yearsI love the way that many people are actually starting to pay attention on how to make our earth a better place!
madelynnalmost 2 yearsThat's amazing 👍 I hope they an do it!!!!!!
adroit_avimimusalmost 2 yearsWow! First Norway's hotel, now this! I'm glad for people working together to make the world a better place for everyone! The part where it mentioned that pollution from the 64,000 cars that pass through daily ruin the park sort of made me sad, but realize how extreme the situation has become without any attendance. I can't wait for it to be done in 2030! I looked up some facts about sustainability, and found that on average, ONE supermarket goes through 60,500,000 paper bags per year! Even though this doesn't have much to do with actually making the environment prettier and greener, this is still bad news! I'm happy that $250 million dollars is being invested in the project though! You go Anne Hidalgo!
milkfanforeveralmost 2 yearsWoah, thats a big project Paris is going to make! Such a good idea! Planting more trees is amazing! Champs-Élysées is also reducing the 8 car lanes to four! Just look at how it can help the environment and stop pollution! Did you know 100 million marine animals die of pollution every year! Champs-Élysées can sure reduce that big number to a very, very, very small number, maybe zero! Hopefully Champs-Élysées can be completed quicker Anyways, I can't wait until 2030 so Champs-Élysées can be completed! Now I want to visit Champs-Élysées someday!
anklebiter123almost 2 yearsgreen- milkfanforeveralmost 2 yearsWoah, OMG! That was very interesting