Palma town hall is introducing a 30 kilometre per hour lane for roads with two or more lanes in both directions. The intention is that these lanes will enable "better coexistence" between cars, bikes, scooters and other personal mobility vehicles.
The roads affected by this are Espartero, Comte de Barcelona, Teodor Llorente, Catalunya, Indústria, Llibertat and a stretch of Dragonera. A pilot scheme, the lanes are for roads which otherwise have speed limits of 40 km/h or 50 km/h. If the pilot goes well, it will be extended.
Mobility councillor Francesc Dalmau explained on Friday that other cities already have this type of lane, which is a "complement" to roads which, because of their characteristics, do not have segregated bike lanes. The lanes will be clearly marked with '30'.
Dalmau added that this development is "another step in the pacification of roads, which is being shown to work and is something that drivers are getting used to quite well".
Regarding the first three months operation of Palma 30, which covers some 2,500 streets/roads, Dalmau suggested that the 30 km/h limit has resulted in a "significant increase in bikes and scooters". On the reduction of the Via Cintura limit to 80 km/h, the councillor said that traffic would seem to be more fluid and that there are fewer jams.