The Council of Majorca is unconvinced by Palma town hall's plan to alter the Paseo Marítimo. This plan envisages two lanes being eliminated along a stretch of the seafront road.
The councillor for land, Mercedes Garrido, has asked the town hall to provide a report on the scheme and to come to an agreement with other authorities in order to avoid traffic backing up and causing jams elsewhere. "The cars aren't going to disappear overnight," observes Garrido. "There can't suddenly be just one car where there used to be three."
Garrido would prefer that the town hall waits until work on the Via Conectora road is finished. This work has, however, been delayed, and the town hall, for whom the remodelling of the Paseo Marítimo is something of a stellar project, wants to move ahead with it as soon as possible - certainly during what remains of the current administration's period in office.
Work on a stretch of the Via Conectora has now resumed, having been stalled for almost two years. Another stretch, between the FAN shopping centre and the airport, is still subject to approval.
The Council fears that the Paseo scheme will cause "an enormous mess". Garrido stresses that this sort of project is very complex and needs to be studied with care. If part of the overall road network is removed and not replaced by another, "all traffic in the city will suffer the consequences".
The town hall has insisted that the changes to the Paseo are part of its efforts to pacify traffic in the city. Garrido says that the Council is already doing this through work at entrances to Palma and narrowing the width of lanes while not reducing the number. Speeds are therefore being cut, notes Garrido.