The Boulevard périphérique de Caen is a

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

circling the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

city of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,route nationale 814. Traveling speed on the road is limited to 90 km/h (55 mph) between the Exit 13 and 8, with a brief portion near the Exit 1 as well as the Viaduc de Calix limited to 70 km/h (45 mph) and 110 km/h (70 mph) elsewhere. It is a 4-lane hard-shouldered road that was finished on 30 September 1997. The total length of the périphérique de Caen is . Notable features include the Viaduc de Calix which spans the River Orne and Canal de Caen à la Mer.

History

The idea of creating an urban bypass boulevard dates back to 1931 with the ''Dauger'' urbanization plan. The plan was a question of improving traffic by organizing peripheral traffic by means of a boulevard connecting radial roads, so as to form a radioconcentric network. It was revived in the early 1970s with the urban development of the city. The ring road was opened in stages: * 13 December 1975: opening of the eastern ring road between the Route de Falaise and the Route de la Délivrande. * 19 May 1976: opening of the northern ring road between Route de la Délivrande and Boulevard Weygand (now Boulevard Jean Moulin) * 31 July 1976: extension of the northern ring road between Boulevard Weygand (now Boulevard Jean Moulin) and Chemin Vert * 28 August 1976: junction between the ring road and the N13 (2,500 metres) * 13 September 1978: Déclaration d'utilité publique for the section between the roads of Cherbourg ( N13) and Brittany ( N175) * 30 September 1997: opening of the last section between Fleury-sur-Orne and Bretteville-sur-Odon As of 26 April 2015, the ring road is no longer lit at night except on the Viaduc de Calix and the Bessin and Porte de Paris interchanges.

Further work

Northern part

In order to relieve congestion in the northern ring road, a third lane was planned between the Viaduc de Calix and Le Chemin-Vert. Work began in March 2017 with preliminary tree felling work along the relevant section. Work on the Hamelin ramp began on 15 April 2021 with improvements on the D60. The construction of the ramp itself was carried out in the second half of 2021; it was commissioned on 27 July 2022.

List of junctions

{, class="plainrowheaders wikitable" , - !scope=col, Department !scope=col, Location !scope=col, km !scope=col, mi !scope=col, Junction !scope=col, Destinations !scope=col, Notes , - , rowspan="16", Calvados , rowspan="2", Mondeville , 0.0 , 0.0 , - 1 Porte de Paris , Paris,

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

, Le Havre, Deauville, Mondeville and

Giberville Giberville () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Population International relations Giberville is twinned with: *Murlo (Italy) since 2007. See also *Communes of the Calvados department Th ...

, , - , 1.4 , 0.9 , - 2 Presqu'île-Rives de l'Orne , Mondeville, Colombelles, Caen station; Route de la Côte Fleurie , , - , rowspan="2", Hérouville-Saint-Clair , 2.9 , 1.8 , - 3 Porte d'Angleterre , Ouistreham, Caen (Saint-Jean-Eudes) , , - , 3.8 , 2.4 , 4 Pierre Heuzé , Hérouville-Saint-Clair, Caen (Pierre Heuzé) , , - , rowspan="3", Caen , 5.2 , 3.2 , - 5 Côte de Nacre , Douvres-la-Délivrande, Épron, Caen (campus 1, Calvaire Saint-Pierre) , , - , 6.2 , 3.9 , 6 Vallée des Jardins ,

Saint-Contest Saint-Contest () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Population Administration Mayors of Saint-Contest International relations Saint-Contest is twinned with: * Marchwood, near Southa ...

, Caen (Vallée des Jardins, La Folie Couvrechef - Mémorial) , , - , 8.0 , 5.0 , - 7 Chemin Vert , Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe, Caen (Chemin vert, La Maladrerie) , , - , rowspan="1", Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe , 9.9 , 6.2 , - 8 Porte de Bessin ,

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

Bayeux Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...

, , - , rowspan="1", Bretteville-sur-Odon , 13.2 , 8.2 , - 9 Porte de Bretagne ,

Vire-Normandie Vire Normandie () is a commune in the Calvados department and Normandy region of north-western France. It was established on 1 January 2016 as a result of the merger of the former communes of Vire (seat of the new municipality), Coulonces, Mais ...

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, , - , rowspan="1", Éterville , 14.6 , 9.1 , - 10 Éterville , Louvigny, Caen (la Prairie) , , - , rowspan="3", Ifs , 18.1 , 11.2 , 11 Suisse Normande , Flers, Fleury-sur-Orne, Caen (Grâce de Dieu) , , - , 21.0 , 13.1 , 12 Ifs , Ifs, Caen (campus 3) , , - , 22.1 , 13.7 , - 13 Porte d'Espagne ,

Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is firs ...

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, Tours , , - , rowspan="2", Cormelles-le-Royal , 23.3 , 14.5 , - 14 Cormelles ,

Cormelles-le-Royal Cormelles-le-Royal () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. History The territory of La Guérinière was formerly part of Cormelles, the northern limit of the town following the road to the ...

, Caen (Guérinière) , , - , 24.5 , 15.2 , 15 Vallée Sèche , Grentheville, Caen (Sainte-Thérèse) , , - , rowspan="1", Mondeville , 26.6 , 16.3 , - 16 Pays d'Auge , Lisieux, Caen (Demi-Lune) , , -

Notes

Ring roads in France Caen Transport in Normandy {{France-road-stub