Palma's mobility councillor, Francesc Dalmau, says that responsibilities for access roads to Palma, the Via Cintura 80 km/h speed limit and the HOV lane are all those of the Council of Mallorca. The town hall argues that not all the traffic jams currently being experienced are caused by roadworks, although it does recognise the impact of the Paseo Marítimo work.
These are the positions of Council and town hall in the face of criticisms from the transport sector and the general public regarding jams in and around the city. There is a demand for better coordination and organisation between the relevant authorities when it comes to the scheduling of work.
Arnau Bisquerra of the taxi drivers in Palma believes that a "structural problem" and a lack of coordination are causing the traffic "collapse". The work on the Paseo Marítimo will ultimately be beneficial for the city, but for now "it is damaging us". He points out that before the current roadworks there were already delays - "Traffic jams at the entrances to the industrial estates, on the Valldemossa road and on the the accesses to the Via Cintura from Inca, Llucmajor and Calvia." He is concerned about what will happen in the summer when "thousands of hire cars" descend on the city.
Petra Mut of the transport federation shares these worries about the high season and has questions as to "how the HOV lane will function". She says roadworks have affected federation members a great deal in recent weeks and is seeking "greater synchronisation and organisation" between the town hall, the Council and the Balearic Ports Authority. If there were such coordination, "the consequences wouldn't be so dire".
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Can we not have boring articles about Mallorca please and instead focus on what Mark Wright had for breakfast after sleeping on his pink leilo.
Is this not what politicians do all the time, many from legal background, not letting the left hand know what the right is doing? This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.