A giant garden will be created on the Champs Elysees in Paris

The authorities of Paris agreed to turn the Champs Elysees into a green area. The mayor of the French capital, Anne Hidalgo, has given the go-ahead to a € 250 million project to transform the world’s most famous tourist street. According to the architect Philippe Kyambaretta, after the renovation, the avenue should become “green, desirable and inclusive.”

An ambitious transformation on the Champs Elysees will take place no sooner than the 2024 Summer Olympics will take place in the French capital. The work is scheduled to be completed by 2030. Plans include halving the space for cars, converting roads to pedestrian and green spaces, and creating tree tunnels on the Champs Elysees to improve air quality.

According to Hidalgo, works agreed in 2019 by community leaders and business representatives will transform the 1.9-kilometer site in central Paris into an “extraordinary garden.” Since 2018, the Champs Elysees Committee has been campaigning for a major renovation of the avenue and its surroundings. “The legendary avenue has lost its splendor over the past 30 years. Parisians are gradually abandoning it, and several crises have followed: yellow vests, strikes, economic crisis,” the committee said in a statement welcoming Hidalgo’s decision.

Po According to the president of the committee, Jean-Noel Reinhardt, many French people find the Champs Elysees “worn out”, despite the fact that the avenue is considered the most beautiful in the world. He expressed the opinion that the territory needs greening and a reduction in traffic flow.

Meanwhile

The name – “Champs Elysees” – in French means a mythical Greek paradise, Champs Elysees.

It was originally a mixture of a swamp and a vegetable garden. André Le Nôtre, gardener of Louis XIV, the Sun King, was the first to design a wide embankment, framed by two rows of elms on each side, called the Grand Cours. In 1709, it was renamed Champs Elysees and expanded, and by the end of the 18th century the area had become a popular place for walks and picnics.

Today, the avenue is famous for its expensive cafes, luxury shops, luxury car malls, one of the highest rents in the world and an annual Bastille Day military parade. Before the coronavirus crisis halted international tourism, architect Philippe Ciambaretta said that of the roughly 100,000 pedestrians who pass the Champs Elysees daily, 72 percent were tourists and 22 percent worked in the area. The eight-lane highway is used by an average of 3,000 vehicles per hour, most of which travel along the avenue, and is more polluted than the busy Peripherical ring road around the French capital, he said.