At the top of the agenda of the newly elected PP mayor is the abolition of the VAO lane on the Ma-19 motorway and the speed limit. The planned construction of a tram line to the airport is now also in jeopardy. Climate-protective transport measures will have to reckon with massive headwinds on the island in the future.
After its election victory, the conservative People's Party (PP) will initiate a traffic turnaround on Mallorca. However, the PP government does not plan to rely on green measures - and thus introduce new driving bans to reduce emissions in road traffic. Exactly the opposite is the plan of the newly elected mayor, Jaime Martínez (PP). Even before the election, Martínez's party had spoken out several times against some aspects of island traffic. In particular, the so-called VAO lane and the speed limit were criticised. Now they are to come to an end. The PP has promised to abolish the bus lane on the airport motorway and the speed limit on the Via Cintura.
The roads should then return to the way they were before the transformation by the previous government. Last November, Mallorca had announced the entry into force of a lane on the regional motorway Ma-19, which is exclusively open to the traffic of vehicles with a higher load. A kind of environmental lane, where not only cars with clean engines - as in Germany, for example - are allowed to drive. Taxis, buses, motorbikes and primarily cars with at least two occupants will have the opportunity to drive in the VAO lane, regardless of the type of drive. This would not directly reduce pollutant emissions in road traffic, as the promotion of cars with electric or hydrogen drive could achieve. However, the environmental lane would serve to significantly reduce the value of CO2 emissions per capita.
However, according to the Conservatives, this would not justify the disadvantages caused for many motorists. Thus, in the months following the introduction of the measure, there were long traffic jams on the important arterial roads. The new government now wants to abolish it in its first 100 days. In addition to abolishing the VAO lane, the speed limit should also be lifted in the future on the holiday island. In 2021, the left-wing government had decided on a speed limit of 80 km/h for the ring road in order to reduce exhaust fumes and increase road safety.
The future of many other mobility initiatives remains unclear in view of the coming change of government. Mayor Martínez also wants to abandon the long-debated construction of a tramway that could connect Palma to the airport. The city will consider the possible cancellation of the project for the time being, especially since the funding has already been secured by the EU's NextGeneration Fund. Spanish media, however, are already reporting an almost certain abandonment of the tram project. For a long time now, the conservative People's Party has spoken out against it.
How traffic will soon change on the beloved holiday destination therefore remains to be seen. Like many other countries, Spain, and thus also the Balearic Islands, must take important steps to achieve the internationally set climate goals. However, the political change is already clearly opposing the green plans in Mallorca. Will the Spanish island consider other green measures for clean transport after all? Or will the politicians continue on the same path at the expense of air quality and the environment?