The measure of average daily traffic density for 2020 indicates that this was 9,291 vehicles per kilometre on motorways and main roads. This represented a decrease of 29.94% compared with 2019 and was the lowest average density since 2005.
The lockdown last spring was clearly a big factor in this reduction. In April last year, the Council of Majorca provided information for the first month of the confinement; there was an 83% drop in average daily density. However, there were various factors after lockdown which contributed to the lower average - the lack of tourists, homeworking and the mix of remote and face-to-face teaching in schools.
In 2005, the average traffic density was around 8,500 vehicles per kilometre. This increased by a thousand in 2006 and was therefore higher than in 2020. Density of traffic stabilised somewhat during years of the financial crisis, but the general pattern was nevertheless one of growth until 2020.
For specific roads, the decrease meant, as an example, 75,401 vehicles per day on the Inca motorway leaving Palma. In 2019 this was 109,436. On the motorway to Andratx from Palma, the fall was from 99,340 to 69,788. The greatest density per day was, as it always is, at the Son Hugo exit on the Via Cintura. This was down from 191,692 to 134,318.