Périphérique (Caen)

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.^[1] It was revived in the early 1970s with the urban development of the city.^[2] The ring road was opened in stages:^[3]

• 13 December 1975: opening of the eastern ring road between the Route de Falaise and the Route de la Délivrande.^[4]
• 19 May 1976: opening of the northern ring road between Route de la Délivrande and Boulevard Weygand (now Boulevard Jean Moulin)^[5]
• 31 July 1976: extension of the northern ring road between Boulevard Weygand (now Boulevard Jean Moulin) and Chemin Vert^[6]
• 28 August 1976: junction between the ring road and the N13 (2,500 metres)^[7]
• 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.^[8]

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^[9] along the relevant section.^[10]

Work on the Hamelin ramp began on 15 April 2021 with improvements on the D60.^[11] The construction of the ramp itself was carried out in the second half of 2021;^[12] it was commissioned on 27 July 2022.^[13]