Ten year deadline on Council of Majorca's bypass and ringroad plan

PALMA
THE construction of bypasses and ringroads across Majorca has been one of the local authorities' historic achievements. Aiming to take traffic away from town centres and built-up residential areas, the Island Council already has 14 further projects in mind which are planned for completion within the next ten years.

The principal roadway arteries across the Island which were built decades ago were not programmed to accommodate the fast, densely flowing queues that have built up in modern times. Lorries, coaches and private cars all contribute to saturating the highways and byways, putting pressure on the environment and threatening safety levels.

The process of lobbying for bypasses and ringroads has been on town hall authority agendas for generations and efforts have been rewarded so far with roadways that take traffic away from urban centres at Andratx, Llucmajor, Vilafranca, North Manacor, South Inca, Sant Llorenç, Son Servera, Algaida, Alcudia, Pollensa and Capdepera.. Quality of life for residents in built-up areas has vastly improved as a result. Traders in such districts resisted the move to create out-of-town bypasses because they believed that taking traffic away would equal loss of business. But local authorities moved to revitalise commercial centres to compensate for loss of passing trade. A district which felt the absence of regular custom after the construction of a bypass is Llucmajor where through-traffic queued down a dual carriageway past major trading outlets. Now most of the traffic need not enter the town at all as the Llumajor bypass enables travellers from Campos and Felanitx into Palma to cut right across the outskirts. Ringroads are another resource to decongest historic village centres such as is the case in Porreres where a road running round the edge of the town facilitates the movement of heavy lorries.