TRAFFIC in the Calle Aragon has increased by 4.6 percent during the last year to the 24'000 vehicles which now use the road daily (this in just one direction). The latest measurements, done by the Palma council's technicians responsible for traffic movement in the city, give a more precise idea of the heavy use this road (which leads into the town centre) is suffering. There are points where up to 2'000 vehicles pass during the hours of 8am and 7pm (between the crossroads where the old Guell bar was and the Avenidas).
This is just one example of the result of the new technologies for the control and management of traffic which Palma council has started to apply via the council department of Transit and Transport. Some 13 kilometres of fibre optic cable connect the meters, cameras and traffic lights to the local police's control centre.
This enables them to monitor the situation minute by minute, evaluate it and take the appropriate measures.
Another figure obtained from the 360 traffic meters installed on the majority of Palma's roads is the density of the traffic.
One clear example is the Avenidas, where the figures show clearly that the amount of traffic heading into the city centre (55'783 vehicles) is very much greater than the traffic heading towards the sea (27'438 vehicles), in spite of the increase of 3.1 percent in this latter category during the last year. In any case, and with the aim of improving the traffic on this road, the local police can change the frequency of the traffic lights in the Avenidas, which can happen up to 20 times in one day. The councillor for Transit and Transport, Carlos Veramendi, says that drastic measures must be taken to encourage the use of public transport within the city to alleviate the traffic problems.
Calle Aragon and Avenidas traffic increasing