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The Parisian urban planning workshop on the scale of Paris and Greater Paris documents, deciphers, supports, illuminates, projects, explores and shares diversity.

Following developments along the Boulevard Périphérique ring road from October 2024 to April 2025

After the speed limit being lowered to 50 km/h on 1st October 2024, the reserved lane for vehicles carrying two or more people (VR2+), which became operational on 3rd March 2025, initially on an experimental basis, marked a new phase in the transformation of the Boulevard Périphérique (BP). The updated "Following Developments along the Boulevard Périphérique" analyses and maps the impact of these measures over 7 months, from October 2024 to April 2025.
Icône de la catégorie Following developments along the Boulevard Périphérique ring road from October 2024 to April 2025
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The BP at Porte Maillot and the Palais des Congrès © Christophe Jacquet-Ville de Paris

Based on data provided by the City of Paris Department of Roads and Mobility, the Department of Ecological and Climate Change as well as that of Airparif and Bruitparif, this atlas offers an overview of the first 2 months of the VR2+ trial and the 7 months of the 50 km/h speed limit, via changes observed related to traffic, speed, accidents, congestion, air quality and noise in the immediate vicinity of the Boulevard Périphérique.

The results are added as a continuation of changes observed on the Boulevard Périphérique since the month of October 2024 (less traffic (-3%), fewer hours of traffic congestion (-19%) and fewer accidents (-16%), lower noise emission of -2.7dB (A) on average), and demonstrate the effect of the VR2+ scheme being integrated into the project to ease traffic congestion on the BP.

Synthèse - Suivi des évolution du Boulevard périphérique pour les mois d'octobre à avril 2023/2025 © Apur

With the implementation of the 50 km/h speed limit and VR2+, the months of March and April 2025 highlight 5 results effecting all lanes of the BP:

  • With vehicles travelling slightly slower (-5%) between the months of March and April in 2024 and 2025, the level of congestion fell considerably (-27%).
  • Daytime speed was reduced by -6% and -18% at night.
  • The number of accidents has been decreasing (-14%).
  • Noise pollution, particularly at night, has also decreased. Within the Porte de Vincennes sector, there was a drop in noise levels of, on average, -3 dB(A) between the months of March and April 2025 compared with 2024, 77.2 dB(A) and 80.2 dB(A) respectively.
  • Although measuring NO2 and PM10 emissions involves complex data which combines various different factors, particularly climatic ones, the months of March and April 2024 and 2025 show a rise in these pollutant concentrations.

During the hours when the reserved lane was in use, during March and April 2025, the spatialised analysis of the implementation of the 50 km/h speed limit and VR2+ reveals 4 consequences in particular:

  • A slight drop in the flow of traffic observed on a global scale was also visible during the hours when the reserved lane was in use (-3% between the months of March and April 2024 and 2025). This was more pronounced on the VR2+ (-13%) than on other lanes where traffic levels remained stable.

  • The level of traffic congestion also dropped during hours when the VR2+ was in use (-23%). This drop in traffic jams was more marked on the VR2+ (-46%), although it was still significant on the other lanes of the BP (-15%%).

  • Speed, which has been reduced on the whole of the Boulevard périphérique, was 8 km/h higher on the VR2+ than on other lanes on the BP and the speed difference between VR2+ and other lanes increased once the VR2+ was introduced.

  • The number of accidents decreased slightly (-2%).

Synthèse - Suivi des évolutions du Boulevard périphérique pour les mois de mars à avril 2025 - Données aux heures d'activation de la VR2+ © Apur

Apur will continue to monitor changes along the Boulevard Periphérique and in Green Belt neighbourhoods, using 8 general indicators (traffic, daytime and nighttime speed, traffic congestion, road accidents, air NO2, PM10, noise) and 4 indicators adapted to the operating hours of the VR2+ (traffic, speed, congestion, road accidents) during the six-month period of the so called, reserved lane experiment. These data are spatialised from city gate to city gate, enabling variations to be analysed sector by sector. A new follow-up in September will make it possible to consolidate the observation of changes along the Boulevard Périphérique, including the introduction of the new A1 and A13 lanes.

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