Soller has become one of the epicentres of complaints about overcrowding and tourist saturation in Mallorca. Traffic jams, gridlock on the access roads to the town and in the Soller tunnel and the road connecting it to Palma, and the large number of visitors who fill its streets and the port in high season have exhausted the patience of locals and residents, who have taken various actions to show their concern and discontent about a problem that is difficult to solve in the short term.
The festivities in Soller, with the famous Firó on the horizon, will exacerbate the situation during the first days of May, although the exasperation of the ‘sollerics’ is already evident. They have made their feelings known through the media and social networks, as well as other channels of communication, but on the streets, as well as being a topic of conversation, this concern is now part of the landscape.
This is evident in the banners that have appeared with different slogans and expressions in different parts of the town, the most striking of which display an eye-catching ‘SOS Sóller’, which perfectly sums up the feelings of the town’s inhabitants, where the arrival of the tourist season sets off alarm bells among residents, while businesses and establishments reopen, especially in the port, which is also a must-see attraction.
In February, Soller council decided to shield a large part of the urban area of the town against non-resident traffic with the introduction, this year in an experimental phase, of a low emission zone (ZBE). In this way, in an area of some 70 hectares which includes 12 streets in the municipality, only residents’ vehicles will be allowed to circulate, with some exceptions. Registered vehicles will be able to circulate freely within the zone but drivers and passengers of other non-registered vehicles will have to park and walk.
Many of the affected streets affected will have to change the current direction of traffic, leaving Calle Cetre for the main entrance of vehicles and the exit along Calle Isabel II. According to the councillor for Mobility, Pep Porcel, the big change aims to ensure that visitors arriving in Sóller by car ‘leave them parked in the car parks which will soon be set up next to the Desvío road’.