Coulée verte René-Dumont

Entrance to the Coulée verte René-Dumont

The Coulée verte René-Dumont is a 4.5-kilometer park trail that initially leads along Avenue Daumesnil in the 12th arrondissement of Paris . It starts near Place de la Bastille , which is accessed from Bastille Metro Station by lines 1 , 5 and 8 of the Paris Métro . Further to the east, it passes under the metro station Bel-Air on line 6 , which is at ground level ; its eastern end is reached via the Montempoivre stop on tram line T3a .

History of origin

Disused viaduct route along Avenue Daumesnil, on the right a train on the siding at Gare de Reuilly station, 1985

The Coulée verte René-Dumont begins at the confluence of Avenue Daumesnil and Rue de Lyon on the Viaduc des Arts . It consists of 71 red brick vaults that house around fifty shops. It is an old, opened on 22 September 1859 route of the former railway line on Vincennes after Marles-en-Brie , the Paris terminus Gare de la Bastille in the amount of today's Opéra Bastille was. The terminal station was shut down on 14 December 1969, demolished in October 1984th The opera house was built in its place and was inaugurated on July 13, 1989.

From 1989 the vaults of the Viaduc des Arts were renovated, in 1993 Patrick Berger ( architect ) and the landscape architects Philippe Mathieux and Jacques Vergely began redesigning the railway line into a planted promenade . They created a linear open space with plants climbing on arches and pergolas , thus creating the world's first elevated park path. It was initially referred to as "Promenade plantée" and received its current name in 2014. René Dumont was a politician and agronomist who campaigned for environmental protection, who died in 2001 .

The Coulée verte René-Dumont is considered a model for the High Line Park, which opened in New York City in September 2014 . A comparable promenade was also created in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

trail
Little planting on bridges
Over 300 types of plants line the path
The path cuts through a building on Rue de Rambouillet
Watercourse

course

Viaduc des Arts and bridge over Rue Traversière

The Coulée verte René-Dumont is 4.5 kilometers long, up to 10 meters high and 9 meters wide. It has an area of 3.7 hectares and connects four associated parks (3.3 hectares). The planted path begins unspectacularly, then leads over bridges with brick vaults and is partially cut through by a watercourse. Hilltop arches, lush shrub beds or bamboo groves line the path. The bird's eye view reveals the neighboring house fronts and street canyons, the path crosses five streets and cuts through two buildings. The planting is very dense, so that a large part of the road noise is absorbed. In the further course, the route is integrated into modern residential building architecture and leads through a short tunnel .

The path runs for the first 1300 meters to Rue de Rambouillet on the Viaduc des Arts, followed by a 350 meter long dam . The Coulée verte René-Dumont then leads 600 meters through the Jardin de Reuilly park, followed by a distance of 800 meters in the cut . After the Jardin de Reuilly, it runs parallel to the avenue Daumesnil at ground level, at the level of the avenue du Général Michel Bizot the path splits. Finally, to the northeast of the Porte Dorée in Saint-Mandé , the path reaches the Périphérique expressway . To the south, it follows a former connecting curve to the Petite Ceinture railway line for around 200 meters .

The course of the hiking trail can be seen in the movie Before Sunset .