More than 250´000 vehicles come to Palma every day

PALMA
MORE than 250'000 private vehicles come to Palma daily using the Via Cintura ring-road and the other motorways, especially from the Llevant (Manacor) and Inca motorways.

The influx of cars make these stretches the ones with the greatest concentration of traffic recorded in the Balearic capital, according to Palma council's department of Transport.

Nevertheless, the director general of this department Paco Donate, said that “when phases three and four of the Via Cintura were opened in the 1990s it was said that it would reduce the traffic driving into the centre of Palma”.

This is a situation which in his opinion, “not only has the traffic into the centre of Palma not decreased, but has infact increased quite dramatically”.

Donate also said that, “during the holiday periods the city sees a reduction in traffic, with the exceptions of the Paseo Maritimo, Arenal, Cala Mayor and San Agustin.” .

Inside the city, the greatest volume of traffic “always” has a direct relationship with the working week and school activity.
One of the notable examples of this state of affairs, is the Calle Aragon going towards the city centre. This road carries 50 percent more traffic on working days when the schools are open, than on days when the children are not at school. In normal conditions, the average number of cars on this stretch of road can be 70'000 per day.

In general, rush hour is between 7.30 and 9.30am and 4.30 to 7pm.
Again, the entrances and exits from school and work make for a lot of traffic in the city. On the main roads, the one which has the greatest concentration of traffic is the Paseo Maritimo and the Avenidas holds second place for the most vehicles passing through it, after the Via Cintura ring-roads.

In the case of the Via Cintura, the number of vehicles reaches 150'000 cars every day. Following these are Calle Aragon, with 70'000 cars a day, the Valldemossa and Soller roads, the Calle de Manacor and the Camino de Jesus. In these last areas between 25'000 and 30'000 cars are recorded every day.

The Balearics has one of the biggest car fleets in Europe with one car almost per capita of the population.