The president Llorenç Galmés, accompanied by the councillor of Territory, Mobility and Infrastructures, Fernando Rubio, explained the details of this infrastructure with a budget of 110 million euros, which is being promoted after four years of paralysis.
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The Consell de Mallorca presents Section I of the second ring road,
The president of the Consell de Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, accompanied by the councillor of Territory, Mobility and Infrastructures, Fernando Rubio, today presented the project for Section I of the connecting road, also known as the second beltway of Palma. This infrastructure is being promoted by the island institution after remaining paralysed for the last four years. It has a budget of 110 million euros, will run partly underground to minimise the impact on the landscape, and will connect the airport motorway with the second ring road that begins at Son Ferriol.
“Today is an important day for Mallorca,” said president Llorenç Galmés. “A few weeks ago the project for Section I was approved and in the next few weeks, the construction project will go out to tender. It is the definitive boost to a much-needed infrastructure for our island, which has been at a standstill for four years due to a lack of political will during the last legislature,” added the president.
We are presenting today,” explained Galmés, “a project that should mean an important step towards decongesting traffic congestion on the accesses to Palma, and which also minimises the impact on the landscape, as it will go some 845 metres underground and provides for a civic road that will connect the surrounding villages with Palma. Furthermore, we are solving a problematic area of Coll den Rabassa by moving the current road away from the houses, which at the moment runs practically over the roof. It will be the only major infrastructure that we will promote in this legislature, a work that the whole of Mallorca is calling for and that most of the parties included in their electoral programme”.
The councillor for Territory, Mobility and Infrastructures, Fernando Rubio, explained the details of this project. He also indicated that “it has a budget of 110 million euros and a timeframe of around 28 months to begin the work, as it is a long process due to the amount of money involved”. “As the president has said, we want to create a project that minimises the impact on the landscape and which will have an extensive network of civic lanes for pedestrians and bicycles”.
According to Rubio, in the successive designs that have been made for this section of the widening of the Ma-30 road (second beltway) since 2014, as well as in response to the allegations of the 2018 project, the design of the link has been readjusted by listening to the proposals of social, neighbourhood and environmental organisations.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT
The future link between the Ma-19 motorway and the second ring road is of the “trumpet” type, in which the main trunk of the Ma-30 is developed through a false tunnel 845 m long that starts next to Coll d’en Rabassa and ends at Camí Fondo. The tunnel will have two lanes in each direction, with physically separated carriageways, and will be equipped with the required safety, drainage and installation elements. This is the main change in the design concerning previous projects, taking into account the search to minimise the visual impact generated by an infrastructure of these characteristics.
The tunnel has a direct access branch to the industrial and commercial area, so that vehicles coming from Palma do not have to pass through the interior of the urban centre of Coll d’en Rabassa, eliminating the queues that were generated for this reason both at the roundabout in calle Cardenal Rossell and in the motorway exit lane itself.
A new design is made for the overpass to Coll den Rabassa to move the current connection with the airport motorway away from the neighbourhood dwellings (which currently pass practically over the rooftops).
About the proposal to urbanise the surface area, the design highlights the arrangement of roundabouts to organise the numerous movements of vehicles. Both roundabouts are designed with a size of 48 metres radius. The first one substantially modifies the roundabout that already exists in the area in front of the Gran Mundo restaurant, while the second one is centred on the current intersection of the Ma-30 road with Camino Fondo. The connection between the two is proposed using a wide urban boulevard, with pedestrian zones on either side.
The entire surface development project is completed with the layout of cycle lanes that connect the urban fabric of Coll d’en Rabassa with the industrial area (Mercapalma, Son Mateo industrial estate) and commercial area (Fan Mallorca), and with the cycle lane in Son Ferriol. A new feature of the project is the extension and connection of the cycle lane to the lane in Son Sastre Street in the Son Malferit industrial estate (IKEA). This will achieve the complete interconnection of this type of road between Coll d’en Rabassa, Son Ferriol, Marratxí and Palma.
A new park-and-ride car park is also planned near the new Camino Fondo roundabout, with a capacity of some 450 spaces. The location of this car park means that, in a framework of collaboration with the Palma City Council, new shuttle lines to the centre of Palma can be provided, taking advantage of the capacity of the Camí Fondo.
Taking advantage of the renovation of the structure over the motorway on Carrer de Guasp, a complementary action is planned with the construction of a new semi-link to the Ma-19 motorway at this point. The two new direct connection branches to the motorway will allow the residents of this neighbourhood to access the town centre more easily. It should be borne in mind that the municipal planning for the area foresees the construction of an outer urban ring road, to which the new semi-link mentioned above would provide a direct connection.
The estimated budget for the entire project, with an exact adjustment to be made with the drafting of the new construction project, is 110 million euros.