MAJORCA HITS THE FAST LANE

The driving force behind the projects, that will go to make up the new road network in Majorca over the next eight years, has devised 62 schemes. The most important of these are: the dual carriageway which will link Inca and Manacor, the road-widening works on the already existing highway between Palma and Manacor, a second ringroad around Palma and an underground roadway along the Paseo Marítimo in Palma. The Balearic government will provide financing to the tune of some 287 million euros for the projects that have been agreed by its Ministry of Public Works, one of which is the link between Inca and Manacor including a by-pass skirting the southern part of the Levante capital. The financing will also support the building of a second ringroad around Palma, “absolutely critical” for the capital city in Cabrer's opinion; the underground roadway along the Paseo Marítimo on Palma's waterfront; the extension of the highway from the airport as far as Llucmajor; and the widening of the Valldemossa road which will affect traffic from the Balearic University (UIB). The Council of Majorca, for its part, will undertake financial responsibility for the highway linking Palma with Manacor, which in its first phase of construction will run according to the plans drawn up by the previous Socialist government, although some roundabouts will be omitted, explained Pascual. Other projects for which the Council of Majorca will contribute 237 million euros are: a third lane to be added to the present ringroad; improvement of the stretch of road between Sa Pobla and Alcudia, and on the tract that links Sa Pobla, S´Albufera and the Bay of Alcudia. Cabrer and Pascual stressed as “urgent” the Palma-Manacor road scheme although the Minister for Public Works added that all of these projects are priorities. She justified the 8-year time frame stipulated for the projects by pointing to their complexities.