The via, one of the most famous shopping streets in the world, accommodates eight traffic lanes as it passes between the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde.
Under new plans drawn up by architect Philippe Chiambaretta and his agency, PCA-STREAM, vehicle traffic will be cut in half, while pedestrians will be able to enjoy wider, greener sidewalks in what the agency calls “planted rooms”.
The avenue will become greener and more pedestrian friendly.
PCA-STREAM
The transformation aims to attract more visitors to an area that, before the pandemic, started to lose its luxury shine, especially after the sometimes violent demonstrations of the so-called anti-government demonstrators “gilet jaune”.
The committee of the Champs-Élysées, a local association that works to promote and develop the area, celebrated the news in a statement on Sunday after Hidalgo’s announcement in an interview with the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
“The mythical avenue has lost its splendor in the past 30 years,” said the committee, which started working on proposals to renovate the area three years ago.
“It was progressively abandoned by Parisians and suffered a series of crises: the Gilets Jaunes, strikes, health and the economic crisis,” said the committee in the statement.
Place de la Concorde will also be rejuvenated.
PCA-STREAM
Reinventing Paris
More than two-thirds of pedestrian traffic comes from tourists, according to PCA-STREAM, with Parisians representing just 5% of total traffic.
In the statement, the commission said it commemorates the decision, which shows that the City Council “seems to want to make the total renovation of the Campos Elísios one of the outstanding urban projects of this decade”.
Hidalgo said that the first phase of the project will involve the renovation of the Place de la Concorde, which will take place before Paris hosts the 2024 Olympics, and the rest of the avenue will be completed after the games.
A Paris city hall spokesman told CNN that more details of the plan will be announced next week.
Paris authorities are also working on a broader revitalization plan ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
Abandoned, disused and outdated spaces will take on a second life as new gastronomic destinations, themed hotels, museums and places of leisure.
Some of the projects were handpicked in the city’s urban renewal campaign “Reinventing Paris”, launched for the first time in 2014. They include a major clean up of the River Seine and the greening of the Eiffel Tower.