Champs Élysées to get an urgent facelift before Paris Olympics

On paper and in urban legend, the Champs Élysées is the most beautiful avenue in the world. For the past 30 years, however, Parisians have lamented the slow decline of the capital's famous street.

- Kim Willsher

The pavements flanking what is now an eight-lane highway used by an average 3,000 vehicles an hour have become an obstacle course of uneven paving stones and electricity cables and a hotchpotch of restaurant, bar, cafe and brasserie terraces of all shapes, sizes and colours.

With Paris hosting the Olympic Games next year, local traders and businesses have decided enough is enough. They say they cannot wait for a multimillion-euro project to turn the wider area into what Paris's city hall has called an "extraordinary garden", scheduled to start after the Games. Instead, they have approved a plan to give the avenue an urgent cosmetic makeover.