Variable-message sign
A variable- message sign abbreviated VMS, CMS, or DMS, in the UK known as a matrix sign, is an electronic traffic sign used on roadways to give travellers information about special events. Such signs warn of traffic congestion, incidents such as terrorist attacks, AMBER/Silver/Blue Alerts, roadwork zones, or speed limits on a specific highway segment. In urban areas, VMS are used within parking guidance and information systems to guide drivers to available car parking spaces, they may ask vehicles to take alternative routes, limit travel speed, warn of duration and location of the incidents, or just inform of the traffic conditions. VMS's were deployed at least as early as the 1950s on the New Jersey Turnpike; the NJ Turnpike's signs of that period, up to around 2012, were capable of displaying a few messages in neon, all oriented around warning drivers to slow down: "REDUCE SPEED", followed by a warning of either construction, congestion, snow, or fog at a certain distance ahead. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority replaced those signs with more flexible electronic signs between 2010 and 2016.
The current VMS systems are deployed on freeways, trunk highways, or in work zones. On the interchange of I-5 and SR 120 in San Joaquin County, California, an automated visibility and speed warning system was installed in 1996 to warn traffic of reduced visibility due to fog, of slow or stopped traffic. Message Signs were deployed in Ontario during the 1990s in the Greater Toronto Area and are now being upgraded on 400 series Highways in the GTA as well as two pilot secondary highways in northeastern Ontario. Early variable message signs included static signs with words that would illuminate indicating the type of incident that occurred, or signs that used rotating prisms to change the message being displayed; these were replaced by dot matrix displays using eggcrate, fiber optic, or flip-disc technology, which were capable of displaying a much wider range of messages than earlier static variable message signs. Since the late 1990s, the most common technology used in new installations for variable message signs are LED displays.
In recent years, some newer LED variable message signs have the ability to display colored text and graphics. Dot-matrix variable message signs are divided into three subgroups: character matrix, row matrix, full matrix. In a character matrix VMS, each character is given its own matrix with equal horizontal spacing between them with two or three rows of characters. In a full matrix VMS, the entire sign is a single large dot matrix display, allowing the display of different fonts and graphics. A row matrix VMS is a hybrid of the two types, divided into two or three rows like a character matrix display, except each row is a single long dot matrix display instead of being split per character horizontally. Overhead variable message signs are today available in three form factors: front access, rear access, walk-in. In a front access variable message sign, maintenance is performed by lifting the sign open from the front. Most smaller VMS are of the front access form factor, are installed today on major arterials.
The rear access form factor is similar to the front access form factor, except that maintenance is performed from the rear of the sign, are used for medium-sized dynamic message signs installed along the roadside of freeways. The walk-in form factor is a more recent introduction, where maintenance on the sign is performed from the inside of the sign. A key advantage of the walk-in form factor is that lane closures are not required to perform maintenance on the sign. Most of the largest VMS units installed today are walk-in units, are installed overhead on freeways; the NJ Turnpike Authority counts five unique types of variable message signs under its jurisdiction, at least one of, replaced by newer signs. They are: "REDUCE SPEED" neon signs. "Changeable message signs". Electronic VMS: signs with remotely controlled messages displayed on them. Variable speed limit signs - used for varying the posted speed limits within work zones and in emergencies. Portable VMS: movable "electronic VMS". A portable VMS has much the same characteristics as a fixed electronic VMS, but can be moved from location to location as the need dictates.
Early models required an operator to be physically present when programming a message, whereas newer models may be reprogrammed remotely via a wired or wireless network or cellphone connection. A complete message on a panel includes a problem statement indicating incident, stalled vehicle etc.. These signs are used for AMBER Alert messages, in some states and Blue Alert messages. In some places, VMSes are set up with permanent, semi-static displays indicating predicted travel times to important traffic destinations such as major cities or interchanges along the route of a highway. Typical messages provide the following information: Promotional messages about services provided by a road authority during non-critical hours, such as carpooling efforts, travelers' information stations a
A3 autoroute
The A3 Autoroute is a French autoroute located within the départment of Seine-Saint-Denis, serving Montreuil-sous-Bois, Rosny-sous-Bois, Bondy. Its southern terminus is an interchange with the Boulevard Périphérique at the Porte de Bagnolet, its northern terminus is an interchange with the A1 near Le Bourget Airport; the A3 is 15 km long, forms a part of European Route E15. A brief segment of its length is a concurrency with the A86. Two spur routes branch off from the A3: the A186 Autoroute; the first section of the roadway opened in 1969 between the Porte de Bagnolet and Bondy
City walls of Paris
Walls of Paris, refers to the city walls that surrounded Paris as it grew from ancient times until the 20th century, built to defend the city. Several successive city walls were built, with the exception of 1670, when Louis XIV ordered the demolition of the Louis XIII Wall, through 1785, when construction began on the Wall of the Farmers-General; the city walls of Paris include: a Gaulish enclosure. A Gallo-Roman wall. Two medieval walls, one of, the Wall of Philippe Auguste; the Wall of Charles V, extending on the right bank. The Louis XIII Wall, extending on the western part of the right bank; the Wall of the Farmers-General, for tax purposes. The Thiers wall; as Paris expanded over time, new walls were built to consolidate the existing city with new houses and vegetable fields. Existing walls would be destroyed and its site built up into a street or boulevard. Only a few sections of the Wall of the Farmers-General and the Wall of Philippe Auguste survived; the walls' influence on modern Paris can still be seen on some of its major streets and boulevards such as: The'Grands boulevards', built by replacing the Charles V and Louis XIII Walls.
The parallel streets Rue de Cléry and Rue d'Aboukir tracing the route of the Charles V Wall. The outer boulevards, built in place of the Wall of the Farmers-General. The'boulevards des Maréchaux', built to replace the Thiers Wall; the Boulevard périphérique, built outside the boulevards des Maréchaux. Before its occupation by the Romans, Lutetia lacked proper defenses and was therefore demolished at the beginning of the Roman occupation; the first wall of Paris was built by the Gauls on the river Seine, although its exact location is unknown. In his Commentaries on the Gallic War, Julius Caesar wrote: "Id est oppidum Parisiorum, quod positum est in insula fluminis Sequanae", indicating that Lutetia was a fortified camp on an island; the relationship between this island and the Île de la Cité has not been demonstrated, excavations have not uncovered anything earlier than Augustus. This is unclear due to the discovery in 2003 of the remains of a city on a site now occupied by Nanterre. Lutetia developed on the left bank of the Seine during Roman times, to a lesser extent on the Île de la Cité.
The right bank was uninhabitable due to marshes. During the first barbarian invasions in 285, the people of Lutetia abandoned the left bank and took refuge on the Île de la Cité and destroyed the bridges; the eastern half of the island was protected by a wall, constructed of rocks collected from the Arènes de Lutèce. Traces of an enclosure at the corner of the rue de l'Arbre-Sec and the rue de Rivoli were discovered in 2009 during excavations made by Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research; this confirmed the probable existence of an enclosure around the centre of Paris on the right bank around the tenth century. This is most the result of a Viking siege in 885 and was constructed by either Odo of France, or Robert I of France; the fortification had a 12 by 3 meter wide ditch and was to have been supported by a wooden fence. The Wall of Philippe Auguste was built between 1190 and 1213, enclosing 253 hectares on both sides of the river Seine.
Many elements were incorporated into private buildings or into the Wall of Charles V. Paris grew fast during this period and soon extended from the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève to the roads leading to the abbey of Saint-Denis. A new wall was thus paid for by the city; this new wall was eight feet thick, protected by wide and deep ditches, had five hundred towers. It ran from the current location of the Pont des Arts, approached the porte Saint-Honoré, opened at the porte Coquillière, reached the porte Saint-Denis, porte Mauconseil, porte Babette, came to rue Vielle-du-Temple, the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, to the porte Baudoyer and the quai des Célestins. On the south side this wall picked up at the Palais de la Tournelle, opened at the porte Saint-Victor, porte Bordet, porte Saint-Jacques, Porte Saint-Michel, porte des Corderliers, near the cour de la Commerce, the porte de Buci, ended at the Tour de Nesle, the Nesle tower; the Wall of Charles V was built from 1356 to 1383, during the reign of Charles V and his son and successor Charles VI.
The area enclosed on the right bank increased and included the mansions of the Marais and the Templar enclosure. The area enclosed on the left bank remained the same as with the Wall of Philippe Auguste; the new city limits totaled 439 hectares across the two banks. During the construction of the Wall of Louis XIII, this wall was incorporated into the new wall and destroyed; the Louis XIII Wall was designed by Jacques Lemercier and built between 1633 and 1636. It enlarged the Charles V Wall over the western part of the right bank. From 1670 onwards, Louis XIV believed that as a result of his conquests, Paris had been made a secure city, he ordered the wall replaced it with the future grands boulevards. The Wall of the Farmers-General was built in the years after 1785 under the direction of Claude Nicolas Ledoux and at the request of the Ferme Générale, it enclosed 3402 hectares, including the village of Austerlitz, incorporated into Paris in 1818. This wall was replaced by a second belt of boulevards: Charonne, Ménilmont
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Emperor Napoleon III to be turned into a public park in 1852, it is the second-largest park in Paris smaller than the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side of the city. It covers an area of 845 hectares, about two and a half times the area of Central Park in New York and less than that of Richmond Park in London. Within the boundaries of the Bois de Boulogne are an English landscape garden with several lakes and a cascade; the Bois de Boulogne is a remnant of the ancient oak forest of Rouvray, which included the present-day forests of Montmorency, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Meudon. Dagobert, the King of the Franks, hunted bears and other game in the forest, his grandson, Childeric II, gave the forest to the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, who founded several monastic communities there.
Philip Augustus bought back the main part of the forest from the monks to create a royal hunting reserve. In 1256, Isabelle de France, sister of Saint-Louis, founded the Abbey of Longchamp at the site of the present hippodrome; the Bois received its present name from a chapel, Notre Dame de Boulogne la Petite, built in the forest at the command of Philip IV of France. In 1308, Philip made a pilgrimage to Boulogne-sur-Mer, on the French coast, to see a statue of the Virgin Mary, reputed to inspire miracles, he decided to build a church with a copy of the statue in a village in the forest not far from Paris, in order to attract pilgrims. The chapel was built after Philip's death between 1319 and 1330, in what is now Boulogne-Billancourt. During the Hundred Years' War, the forest became a sanctuary for robbers and sometimes a battleground. In 1416-17, the soldiers of John the Fearless, the Duke of Burgundy, burned part of the forest in their successful campaign to capture Paris. Under Louis XI, the trees were replanted, two roads were opened through the forest.
In 1526, King Francis I of France began a royal residence, the Château de Madrid, in the forest in what is now Neuilly and used it for hunting and festivities. It took its name from a similar palace in Madrid, where Francis had been held prisoner for several months; the Chateau was used by monarchs, fell into ruins in the 18th century, was demolished after the French Revolution. Despite its royal status, the forest remained dangerous for travelers. During the reigns of Henry II and Henry III, the forest was enclosed within a wall with eight gates. Henry IV planted 15,000 mulberry trees, with the hope of beginning a local silk industry; when Henry annulled his marriage to Marguerite de Valois, she went to live in the Château de la Muette, on the edge of the forest. In the early 18th century and important women retired to the convent of the Abbey of Longchamp, located where the hippodrome now stands. A famous opera singer of the period, Madmoiselle Le Maure, retired there in 1727 but continued to give recitals inside the Abbey during Holy Week.
These concerts drew large crowds and irritated the Archibishop of Paris, who closed the Abbey to the public. Louis XVI and his family used the forest as a hunting pleasure garden. In 1777, the Comte d'Artois, Louis XVI's brother, built a charming miniature palace, the Château de Bagatelle, in the Bois in just 64 days, on a wager from his sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette. Louis XVI opened the walled park to the public for the first time. On 21 November 1783, Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes took off from the Chateau de la Muette in a hot air balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers. Previous flights had been tethered to the ground; the balloon rose to a height of 910 meters, was in the air for 25 minutes, covered nine kilometers. Following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, 40,000 soldiers of the British and Russian armies camped in the forest. Thousands of trees were cut down to build shelters and for firewood. From 1815 until the French Second Republic, the Bois was empty, an assortment of bleak ruined meadows and tree stumps where the British and Russians had camped and dismal stagnant ponds.
The Bois de Boulogne was the idea of Napoleon III, shortly after he staged a coup d'état and elevated himself from the President of the French Republic to Emperor of the French in 1852. When Napoleon III became Emperor, Paris had only four public parks - the Tuileries Gardens, the Luxembourg Garden, the Palais-Royal, the Jardin des Plantes - all in the center of the city. There were no public parks in the growing east and west of the city. During his exile in London, he had been impressed by Hyde Park, by its lakes and streams and its popularity with Londoners of all social classes. Therefore, he decided to build two large public parks on the eastern and western edges of the city where both the rich and ordinary people coul
14th arrondissement of Paris
The 14th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as quatorzième; the arrondissement, called Observatoire, is situated on the left bank of the River Seine. It contains most of the Montparnasse district, it is today best known for its skyscraper, the Tour Montparnasse, its major railway terminus, the Gare Montparnasse, both located in the neighboring 15th arrondissement. The district has traditionally been home to many artists as well as a Breton community, arrived at the beginning of the 20th century upon the creation of the Montparnasse railway terminus. Universities located in the 14th arrondissement include the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, located near the Parc Montsouris, the Stade Charléty and the catacombs; the land area of this arrondissement is 5.621 km². The 14th arrondissement attained its peak population in 1954, it continues to have a high density of both population and business activity with 132,844 inhabitants and 71,836 jobs as of the last census, in 1999.
Aéroports de Paris has its head office in the arrondissement. In addition Société d'exploitation de l'hebdomadaire Le Point, the company that operates Le Point, has its head office in the arrondissement. SNCF, the French rail company had its head office in Montparnasse and the 14th arrondissement. La Santé Prison, operated by the Ministry of Justice, is in the arrondissement; the head office of the Agency for French Education Abroad, the French international schooling network, is in the arrondissement. The International Astronomical Union head office is located on the second floor of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris; the Théâtre Rive Gauche is located at 6, rue de la Gaîté. Paris Catacombs museum Cimetière du Montparnasse Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain Gare Montparnasse Michael Servetus statue Montparnasse area Musée Lenine Musée Jean Moulin Paris Observatory La Santé Prison Tour Montparnasse Sainte-Anne Hospital Center Rue de l'Arrivée Place Denfert-Rochereau Rue Delambre Rue du Départ Place Edgar Quinet Avenue du Maine Boulevard du Montparnasse Boulevard Raspail 14th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
Seine
The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine, 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre, it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen, 120 kilometres from the sea. Over 60 percent of its length, as far as Burgundy, is negotiable by commercial riverboats, nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating. There are 37 bridges within dozens more spanning the river outside the city. Examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, which links Le Havre to Honfleur; the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864. A number of associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source.
The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, a dog, a dragon. On the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana "Seine goddess" and other ex voti found at the same place are now exhibited in the Dijon archaeological museum; the Seine can artificially be divided into five parts: the Petite Seine "Small Seine" from the sources to Montereau-Fault-Yonne the Haute Seine "Upper Seine" from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris the Traversée de Paris "the Paris waterway" the Basse Seine "Lower Seine" from Paris to Rouen the Seine maritime "Maritime Seine" from Rouen to the English channel. The Seine is dredged and ocean-going vessels can dock at Rouen, 120 kilometres from the sea. Commercial craft can use the river from 516 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges; the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus navigable. The Seine Maritime, 123 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the only portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft.
The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a canalized section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Smaller locks at Bougival and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, where the junction with the Canal Saint-Martin is located; the distance from the mouth of the Oise is 72 km. The Haute Seine, from Paris to Montereau-Fault-Yonne, has 8 locks. At Charenton-le-Pont is the mouth of the Marne. Upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne. From the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is navigable only by small craft to Marcilly-sur-Seine. At Marcilly-sur-Seine the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes; this canal has been abandoned since 1957. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres.
Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, consisted of a small channel of continuous flow bordered by sandy banks. Today the depth is controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is filled with water; the average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second, but much higher flows are possible during periods of heavy runoff. Special reservoirs upstream help to maintain a constant level for the river through the city, but during periods of extreme runoff significant increases in river level may occur. A severe period of high water in January 1910 resulted in extensive flooding throughout the city; the Seine again rose to threatening levels in 1924, 1955, 1982, 1999–2000, June 2016, January 2018. After a first-level flood alert in 2003, about 100,000 works of art were moved out of Paris, the largest relocation of art since World War II. Much of the art in Paris is kept in underground storage rooms.
A 2002 report by the French government stated the worst-case Seine flood scenario would cost 10 billion euros and cut telephone service for a million Parisians, leaving 200,000 without electricity and 100,000 without gas. In January 2018 the Seine again flooded. An official warning was issued on January 24 that heavy rainfall was to cause the river to flood. By January 27, the river was rising; the Deputy Mayor of Paris, Colombe Brossel, warned that the heavy rain was caused by climate change, that "We have to understand that climatic change is not a word, it's a reality." The basin area is 78,910 square kilometres, 2 percent of, forest and 78 percent cultivated land. In addition to Paris, three other cities with a population over 100,000 are in the Seine watershed: Le Havre at the estuary, Rouen in the Seine valley and Reims at the northern limit—with an annual urban growth rate of 0.2 percent. The population density is 201 per square kilometer. Periodically
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