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The Boulevard Péripherique Extérieur near Porte Dauphine.

Paris' Péripherique by night at Porte d'Italie (Paris is on the left side of the picture)

Boulevard Péripherique is a ring road (French: péripherique) around Paris. It is a frequently congested stretch of 4- to 8-lane dual carriageway, and is the busiest freeway/motorways in Europe, with traffic between 1.1 and 1.2 million vehicles per day in 2002.

Travelling speed on the road is limited to 80 km/h (50 mph). It does not feature a hard shoulder, and gives priority to entering vehicles. It was built in the early 1970s on the empty space left abandoned after the destruction of the Thiers defense wall of Paris in the 1920s, and completed on 25 April 1973. It is the generally-accepted boundary between the city proper (approx. 2 million inhabitants) and the suburbs (more than 12 million inhabitants), as it is situated along Paris's administrative limit (excluding the Paris heliport and the outlying woods of Boulogne and Vincennes).

When travelling at the legal speed limit, it takes 26 minutes and 17 seconds to complete a full circuit. The street racer Ghost Rider completed a circuit in 9 minutes and 57 seconds.

The périphérique, commonly referred to as "le périph" by Parisians, is administered by the government of the city of Paris.

[edit] Statistics

• Traffic in 2002: between 1.1 and 1.2 million vehicles per day: 89% light vehicles, 7% trucks, 4% motorbikes; 25% of the traffic in Paris.
• Average trip: 7 km (4.5 miles)
• Average speed on working days (7 h-21 h): 43 km/h (26 mph)
• Speed limit: 80 km/h (50 mph)
• Total length: 35.04 km

[edit] Map

[edit] List of junctions

[edit] Other périphériques

The périphérique is the innermost of the Paris four ring road system, including A86 (to be completed in 2010) and the Francilienne (partial).

There are other périphériques in France, in Bordeaux, Caen, la Défense, Dijon, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Toulouse, often called rocades.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Périphérique (Paris)

• Périphérique
• Berlin's A 10
• Dublin's M50 motorway
• London's M25 motorway
• Rome's Grande Raccordo Anulare
• Washington, DC's Capital Beltway
• Madrid's M-30
• Toronto's Highway 407 ETR
• Moscow's MKAD
• Manchester's M60 motorway