Speed limit reduction

No specific date has been set and there are no details of which roads will be included.

The new speed limit will be applied in 2,600 of the city’s 2,700 streets and only major arteries, such as the Avenidas, Paseo Marítimo, Avenida Argentina and Carrer de Ramón y Cajal will be excluded.

The amendment of Article 7 of the Circulation Ordinance will be approved this week and enforced when it’s published in the BOIB.

The Mobility Department is finalising a study of Palma’s streets to decide which ones will be excluded from the new measure and Mayor Hila says directional changes and different speeds in different lanes of the same road are also a possibility.

Mayor Hila pointed out that a number of cities have already reduced the generic speed limit from 40 to 30 kilometres per hour, including Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Valencia, A Coruña, Alicante or Malaga.

“We are on the verge of a great transformation for Palma,” he said, calling the speed limit change a brave initiative.

“It is not easy to change the conception of a city like Palma where private vehicles carry importance and doing so implies courage; courage with the conviction and certainty of what you want to achieve: a more sustainable, more friendly city where people have more prominence and all means of mobility, from bicycles to scooters also have the same prominence.”

Mayor Hila said the speed limit reduction will also contribute to the fight against climate change, by reducing emissions and making the city less noisy.

He stressed that reducing speed increases road safety and said the city won’t be flooded with 30 km an hour signs, but that signs will appear in streets where the speed limit is higher. Three new radars are being bought, making 9 altogether and Mayor Hila says "more will be purchased in the future.”

An information and awareness campaign will be launched shortly to make sure people are aware of the new speed limits in Palma.