The Council of Mallorca and Soller town hall have reached an agreement designed to eliminate traffic chaos on the Palma-Puerto Soller main road that passes through Soller.
This road, 'desvío' (literally detour), is a section of the MA-11. As this is a main 'carretera', responsibility for the road lies with the Council and not the town hall. The agreement will change this. The section of road will be reclassified as urban, giving powers to Soller Police that they don't currently have. The police are at present unable to do anything about irregular parking.
Josep Porcel, Soller's councillor for mobility, explains that the reclassification will apply between Can Repic and the L'Horta junction. As a result, there will be a project for a lane for pedestrian traffic on one side of the road, but the more immediate impact will be a progressive prohibition of parking.
New car parks are to be made available, Porcel calculating that these will be able to accommodate the same number of vehicles that currently park on the main road's hard shoulders. Drivers will be forced to use these car parks, which will be paid for.
The first car park, at Can Tinet, is expected to open at the end of this month. Once the Council of Mallorca has signalled the new road category, the town hall will place pillars on one of the sections in order to prevent parking and to direct drivers to this car park. By next summer, it is envisaged that parking will be prevented along the whole stretch of road.
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I have been a semi resident of Soller since 1982. I agree with Chris G and Mr Pearson’s opinions about the tunnel. It has been an absolute disaster and helped create chaos in the town and surrounding area. Something HAS to be done, and quickly, Mr Pearson’s solution seems to me to be the most practicable for all concerned. Like him, I am not holding my breath. By the way, is Mr Williams being serious ? Aren’t objectionable comments on this website checked before they are published ? If not, I don’t think I will be writing here again.
The whole idea of road traffic laws in Spain, and the enforcement thereof, is such a half-arsed, third world concept to the population that chaos reigns unrestrained to a lesser or greater extent, depending on the autonomous government community in charge. The training of drivers within the traffic laws in order to pass the driving test is farcical. The Spanish make the drivers of India's cities look like the best in the world. The only way to make the roads in Spain safe is to make everyone in Spain drive dodgems that all travel in the same direction.
Richard PearsonYou do realize that Soller qualifies as the uncharted wilderness beyond Calvia? Why would anyone go there, let alone have deliveries made there? Have you ever been there? Or is your knowledge of it based on what you've read in the MDB?
Chris GI totally agree. And not only Soller residents and businesses but also those who have to make daily deliveries from Palma or other parts of the island. My comment about closing the tunnel was said half in jest, but the fact remains that it one of the principal causes of the problem. My humble opinion is that the Formentor lighthouse solution should be used, starting from a large parking lot built before, and it could be a few kilometers, the tunnel entrance. The same would have to be done on land between Fornalutx and Soller. Basically a good old park and drive, which would, apart from solving the problem, pay for itself with the generated income. I’m not holding my breath though.
This all sounds sensible moving cars from the side of the bypass road to new dedicated car parks. However it really does nothing to solve the problem frequently seen, where the sheer volume of traffic heading to Soller means backups through the tunnel and back past Bunyola towards the Palmanyola roundabout. We've seen the Soller tunnel closed periodically due to this. The residents and businesses of Soller must to be allowed to freely move to and from their town without having to battle the tail backs of endless rental cars. Where is the proposal to fix this problem???
Or close the tunnel.
This is actually a very sensible move. You can complain endlessly about the traffic, but that alone won't change anything. So, if you actually want to make an impact, find ways to accommodate the increased traffic - with more car parks and increased ability to enforce parking ordinances. Or just keep complaining.