Understanding Paris: the Périph

What the beltway was meant to be, what it became, & what should be done with it now.

Photo by Clément Dellandrea on Unsplash

You don’t have to drive in and around Paris to know that the périphérique, the 35 km beltway that encircles Paris, is more than Europe’s busiest motorway — it’s a psychological barrier. If you’ve ever taken a taxi or rented a car from the airport, chances are good you’ve traveled on the ring road and, perhaps, had some questions.

Statements like, on the other side of the périph, or I don’t cross the périph are windows into the cultural significance of the post-War highway. It effectively separates Paris from everywhere else; the center of the French universe and the rest. Some of the women I interviewed for The New Parisienne who grew up on the other side, spoke of this divide. In their minds, Paris was the shining and prosperous place of opportunity that they’d strive to reach but until they did, they felt relegated to someplace considered inferior in the eyes of the state.

Sections of the beltway are hidden underground or through tunnels in the more well-heeled arrondissements of the city and nearby suburbs, such as the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes, and wholly visible in working class areas and neighborhoods. Residents of affluent neighborhoods had enough influence and access to exert pressure on local officials to ensure the beltway was hidden from their views.

What we know today is that it remains not only heavily trafficked but a massive source of noise pollution, on top of being a symbol of gross inequality. Back when it was first unveiled in 1973, a time before double-paned windows or soundproofing, those living within proximity of the road developed sleep issues and even depression. Workers warned the engineers it would be unbearable for people living on higher floors to which they offered a shrug and pushed on. 

How it came to be (and become contested and maligned) is a rather long, bureaucratic story, one that that France Culture examined in a four-part podcast series last year called Le Périph, après tout, that I recently revisited through my research and reporting on the forthcoming Paris Olympics.

Looking back on the 50 years since vehicles first hit the road, the show covers how and why it went from what was meant to be a large park with sports grounds — a sort of green belt around Paris— into the noisy, polluting mess of cars; the French love of centralisation (keeping wealth inside the core of the capital and the “poor” outside of it); and what should be done with it today. This is particularly timely as the city has already created a dedicated lane for athletes, VIPs and emergency services during the Olympics which will be converted into a dedicated carpool¹ and public transport lane after the event. 

It was an illuminating deep dive that I have been thinking about ever since I finished listening to it— but in French. I thought I’d highlight a few of the most salient elements from the reporting (and a few other sources) for those who need an English translation.

The périphérique near the Porte de Vincennes in 1971. FORTEPAN / Urbán Tamás [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons