Paris Seine closures relating to Olympic Games for summer 2023

Just a reminder - while these closures should show up close to the dates in the Avis à la Battellerie, they will not be on the regular chomage table for this year or probably for next year either, so if you think you may be moving about in or through Paris this summer, make a note of the closure dates and times!

The minutes of the meeting to discuss the rehearsal events on the Seine in Paris during 2023 in advance of the Paris Olympics in 2024 have just been published and I attach the document here in the original and in machine translation into English.  Sharon may well add her personal observations but I hope this is helpful.

Bob

Further to Sharon's excellent report the complete PowerPoint slides have been published and are attached to this post.

Summer 2023 isn't a typo.  I attended by video a large meeting put on by VNF and partners to provide information on scheduled closures of the Seine in Paris for specific dates/events in Summer 2023.  Attached are slides which show the closures, the purpose and the events involved, photos of the course involved, and other information.  There was quite a bit of back and forth and questions and with some but fewer answers ( a lot of the answers as far as I could determine came down to this is why we are running the test events, to find the answers to these questions).  Hopefully minutes of the meeting will be forthcoming so I can report in more detail. 

The first closure will be Monday July 17 between 4 am and 12 noon.  It is a test of the planned parade of athletes on boats through Paris on the Seine that will take place during the opening ceremony of the Olympics on 26 July, 2024. It will involve 40 boats, which are currentoy being contracted for, and will begin at the Pont d'Austerlitz and conclude at the Pont d'Iena, at the Eiffel Tower.  All navigation will be halted in both directions of the Seine during this time.  The pratice run will NOT require any of the permanently moored boats along the route to move, nor will it involve any pontoons for embarking and disembarking.  The representatives of professional boaters attending asked a number off questions about where commercial boats can moor before the period and how long it will take to get traffic flowing through the locks again after.  There were also questions about where the 40 boats were going to be moored before and after.  From the answers and sometimes lack of answers, I would personally suggest that pleasure craft not plan on transiting Paris between the afternoon of the 16th and the morning of the 18th.   See the first slide for the map of the route and the closed section. 

The second closure will be Friday through Sunday, August 4-6, 2023.  The closure will be from 2 AM to 11 AM each of the 3 days.  The event is a test of the long distance open water swimming.  Friday will be for installation, testing and warm-ups.  Saturday will be the competition for 70 women and Sunday for 70 men.  The course is between Pont Alexandre Trois and Pont de l'Alma.  It will not require moving of any resident moored boats.  Each day the course needs will be installed from 2 to 5:30 AM, 5:30 to 7 AM will be a warm up period, the competition will be from 7:30 to 10 and the the equipment take down and removal will be from 10 to 11.  One could assume there will be some back up of commercial boats to clear once this section of water way re-opens but in theory traffic will be fairly normal by early afternoon each day. See slides 2 and 3.

The third closure will be Wednesday to Sunday, August 16 to 20, 2023.  The closure will be from 2 AM to 11 AM or possibly noon.  The affected area will be around the Pont Alexandre Trois. The events are tests of the swimming section of the Men's and Women's Triathlon and the Men's and Women"s Para-Olympic Triathlon, plus a Mixed Relay event. Wednesday will involve set-up, a test of the velo portion, and trail swims.  Thursday will be the women's event, Friday the men's event plus a warm up for the para athletes.  Saturday will be the Para event plus a warm up for the mixed relay. Sunday will be the mixed relay.  See the remaining slides for the information and map courses.  As with the earlier test event presumably traffic will return to normal by early afternoon each day.