Feuding mayors make road one-way in opposite directions

Two Paris mayors, belonging to neighbouring suburbs, are said to have taken their feud to the streets by declaring the same road one-way, but in opposite directions. Patrick Balkany, the conservative mayor of Levallois-Perret, made the D909 one-way to cut the commuter traffic flowing through his district. But Gilles Catoire, the Socialist mayor of neighbouring Clichy-la-Garenne, complained that Balkany’s move increased congestion in his area, and thus he declared his section of the road one-way, but in the opposite direction. With the contradictory road-signs in place, the result was commuter chaos, road rage and girdlock. Police were called in to direct traffic away from the area.