MANACOR
ONE year has passed since the opening of the widened Manacor road, and the figures reveal that it was a job well done, especially as traffic using the road has increased to more than 2'000 vehicles a day.
During the year 2003, which saw the start of the widening works, the then C-715 road was known as the road of death because of the large number of accidents.
Four years on few people can recall that old, dangerous road which has now become a highway with two lanes in each direction and separated by a concrete barrier.
Even the name has changed and the road is now called the Ma-15.
In 2003, the year the works started, 19'316 vehicles used the road daily.
In October 2007 21'410 vehicles per day use the road, some 10 percent more.
The convenience and, above all, the road security which this project has delivered is completely evident in the number of vehicles which are now using the road.
In fact, before the widening works were carried out, many drivers avoided using it when going to Palma and used alternative links such as the road between Santa Margalida and Inca.
In fact, the long queues which used to form have been reduced to almost nothing.
LONG QUEUES
However, there are still long queues during the rush hours on other access roads to Palma, most especially at the Mercapalma (near Ikea) and Son Ferriol roundabouts.
The widening works on the Manacor road were one of the most extensive public initatives of those carried out during the last few decades on the islands.
The project was done in answer to the ongoing complaints by the users of the road about its state and safety, and especially about the high number of deaths on the road every year.
The project had a budget of 107 million euros. The works were carried out in three years by a temporary alliance of companies, and they finished without any hitches, except for the famous collapse of the Montuiri bridge onto the road which, fortunately, did not cause any injuries. The Manacor road project has been one of the most successful to date.