Ringroad passes the first round of approval process

THE Council of Majorca's road network plans, which includes the controversial second Palma ringroad, the dual carriageway between Inca and Manacor and the road widening of the already existing Palma to Manacor highway, has passed the first round of its approval process. The project was supported by the ruling Popular Party and its political stablemate, Majorca Union at a Highway Works Commission meeting.
The next stage of application for approval will take place at a meeting of the Council of Majorca schedule for 6 October.
Socialist and Environmental groups voted against the proposals and will maintain their stance at the next Council meeting. The next step will be for those in favour to solicit approval for three changes to the Balearic highway plan which was first tabled by the previous Socialist government. An official memorandum covering the project details was handed out to all other political groups by the head of the Council of Majorca's Town Planning department, Antoni Pascual. The so-called “second Palma ringroad”, which was much supported during the last election campaign by the Majorca Union party, will be “an urban dual carriageway with a total of four lanes” running between the already existing Llevant and Ponent motorways. The Highway Commission's Socialist representative expressed being “perplexed” when he saw for himself that one of the plans in the official memorandum had a sketch of a possible extension to Peguera onto the ringroad. The highway between Inca and Manacor is described in the same memorandum as a “road plan that could absorb high traffic density”.