The Minister Delegate for Transport has given his green light to Estrosi to implement all necessary measures to ease traffic on the Promenade des Anglais. Here’s what you need to understand.
Since 2018, Estrosi has repeatedly asked the government to remove the Promenade des Anglais from the national list of major traffic roads, a designation that, since 1957, has made the prom a priority road.
The status of major traffic road maintained
The Minister Delegate for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, responded to the Mayor of Nice by confirming that the Promenade des Anglais would maintain its status as a major traffic road. However, he clarified that this status is kept solely to ensure the transit of exceptional convoys across the department from east to west. These vehicles are those over 25 meters in length and over 44 tons — as the bridges and tunnels of the Mathis route and the A8 highway cannot accommodate vehicles over 48 tons.
The ecological transition policy is not affected
According to the Minister Delegate for Transport, this status is not incompatible with the ecological transition policy desired by the City of Nice. For instance, merchandise transport might be prohibited, and access to noise-polluting vehicles could be restricted.
Christian Estrosi is free to make any decisions regarding traffic as long as they align with the goals of the air quality improvement plan and the Metropolitan Climate Plan, which, it should be noted, aim for a -22% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2026, and -55% by 2030.
“In this context, we are taking an additional step in our Metropolitan Climate Plan, notably by implementing a Low Emission Zone, which will ban, from 2022, the circulation of polluting heavy-duty vehicles with crit’air 5 ratings, then crit’air 4 in 2023, and crit’air 3 in 2024 along the Promenade des Anglais and in the city center of Nice, alongside all other measures we are implementing to promote sustainable mobility,” said the Mayor of Nice.
Jean-Baptiste Djebbari even suggested reducing the number of convoys using the Promenade des Anglais and the Quai des Etats-Unis by diverting them onto the A8 highway, or even via the sea route when conditions permit.
Christian Estrosi concluded by stating that discussions were ongoing with the concession company of the A8 highway regarding the possible removal of the Nice – St-Isidore toll. This removal would allow for better routing of transport flows toward the bypass axis.
