Paris, July 19, 2004 – French government and Paris City public authorities, together with the Paris 2012 Bid committee, today confirmed it would take less than ten minutes to travel from either of the two proposed Olympic venue clusters to the Olympic Village, based on the results of initial "Olympic Lane" trials conducted yesterday.

 

The "Olympic Lane", a lane of the Paris Ring Road (Peripherique), will be dedicated to the Olympic Family and link the proposed Olympic Village with both the Northern and Western competition venue clusters. The travel time between venues was tested under "Olympic conditions" by the Prefecture of Police of Paris and the City Road and Transport authorities (Direction de la Voirie et des Déplacements de la Mairie de Paris), using a bus chartered by RATP (the Paris Public Transport Service).

 

Two successful trials were run, mirroring anticipated traffic conditions between 27 July and 12 August 2012, the proposed dates for the Games in Paris (1). Both locations chosen reflect the longest possible route between the farthest parts in the two venue clusters; the Porte de Saint-Cloud gate being the extreme south of the Western Cluster, while the Olympic Stadium Stade de France represents the extreme north of the Northern Cluster.

 

The results were positive, proving the ability of the "Olympic Lane" concept to provide a time efficient means of travel:

 

- Porte de Saint-Cloud and Olympic Village: 8 minutes,
- Stade de France and Olympic Village: 6 minutes,

- Porte de Saint-Cloud gate (Western Sports Venue Cluster) and Stade de France, located in Saint-Denis (Northern Sports Venue Cluster): 13.5 minutes.

 

Essar Gabriel, Chief Operating Officer of Paris 2012 said: “Paris 2012 is dedicated to testing its designs in order to develop the best possible transportation programme. These initial trial results validate our promise to keep travel time between the competition venues and the Olympic Village to less than ten minutes, minimising delays to the Olympic Family and allowing the centre of Paris to breathe. We see this as an essential and fundamental requirement to a successful Olympic Games.”

The results of the "Olympic Lane" trials will help Paris 2012 complete the Transportation section of their Candidature File, due to the International Olympic Committee on the 15 November 2004.

 

(1) These dates were chosen in order to ensure minimal traffic during the traditional Parisian vacation period.

 

The Olympic Village:

• Less than ten minutes from each of the two competition clusters
• Two kilometres from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées
• Six kilometres from the Stade de France (Northern Cluster) and Parc des Princes (Western Cluster)
• 50 hectares in the 17th arrondissement of North West Paris
• Incorporating 10 hectares of landscaped parkland – the first new city park since 1993
• Accommodation for 17,000 people including 10,500 athletes

The Competition Venues:

• 67% of the venues located in two competition clusters at the gates of Paris, to achieve high levels of sporting, cultural and environmental excellence, control cost and complexity
• Two clusters situated less than 10 minutes from the Olympic Village and incorporating the majority of the Parisian existing venues
• The Western cluster will include most of Paris’ historic venues like the Parc des Princes, Jean Bouin and Roland Garros stadiums
• The Northern cluster will be bordered to the north by the Stade de France (Olympic Stadium)
• Around two thirds of the required venues already in operation
• Seating for sixty-seven percent of all potential spectators already in place
• The Stade de France currently hosts 25 major events each year
• The physical legacy to the Ile-de6farnce Region will consist of only four new permanent venues: the Aquatics Centre, a Velodrome, a “SuperDome” and a shooting centre
• Sailing competitions will be held in the state-of-the-art Port des Minimes in La Rochelle.