8. Cycling facilities

In the introduction, we highlighted the low priority given to "soft traffic", and in particular bicycles, in regulatory texts and technical documents relating to roadways.

Fortunately, the situation has changed considerably. Both national and local public authorities have become aware of the benefits of soft traffic, both in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the quality of urban life, which is all too often compromised by the exaggerated growth of automobile traffic, and in terms of meeting a growing demand for "nature".

The first signal was given by the Law on Air and the Rational Use of Energy of December 30, 1996. It sets the objective of "reducing automobile traffic and developing more economical and less polluting modes of transport, in particular cycling and walking", and calls for the development of "cycle routes...