MANACOR
THE regional Transport ministry has given the go-ahead to the construction of a new ring road in Manacor which aims to improve the safety of the future tram-style train as it crosses the centre of the town.
The ring road will link Plaza Madrid with the roundabout by Manacor general hospital and the hippodrome. The move comes in response to Manacor town council's request for such a measure and was officially approved yesterday at a meeting between the ministry and council.
The ring road will be included in the regional government's official urban planning, and is a project which apart from taking through-traffic away from the centre of the town will also reroute vehicles coming in the direction of Manacor from the coastal resort of Porto Cristo.
Transport Director, Antoni Verger, said yesterday that if it is legislatively possible, the Balearic government want Central Government to include the costs of the ring road as part of the new railway project which Madrid have committed to pay for. Construction has already begun on reopening the Manacor to Arta service with a new, fast and efficient tram-style train.
But there is still friction over the route of the line through the town of Manacor. Although the ministry has given the green light for the ring road, Planning Councillor in Manacor Bernat Amer has again put on the table the question over whether the new train should run down the central Paseo del Ferrocarril or down one of the lateral roads running parallel to it. There won't be such a major impact on the centre of Manacor if the train runs down one of the side streets, Amer said.