Mayor unveils radical traffic shake up for Palma city centre

In a final attempt to get a grip on Palma's traffic problems, access to the city centre is to be restricted and the speed limit reduced to 30 kilometres per hour. Mayor of Palma, Joan Fageda, yesterday unveiled a new list of traffic modifications which are to be introduced as a result of a year-long study in to the capital's traffic problems. The new traffic plan has four main aims: to give pedestrians more priority, limit the use of private vehicles, boost public transport services and make it easier for cyclists to get about the city. “Our aim is to prevent the car from being king of the roads,” Fageda said. “We want to create a cleaner, less contaminated and more comfortable city,” the Mayor added. According to the findings of the study, 53 per cent of journeys in and around the capital are made in private vehicles, 24 per cent using public transport and 23 per cent on foot - the aim of the new traffic plan is for each means of transport to account for 33 per cent. Vehicle access to the city centre is to be limited while alternative modes of transport are to be promoted while the direction of traffic flow through the capital is to be modified.