Residents of Carrer Estruç in Jesús are continuing their protest over traffic levels and vehicle speeds on their street as the debate surrounding the village's pedestrianisation pilot reaches Santa Eulària Town Council's plenary session on Thursday, September 24.

The residents say they support the aim of pedestrianising and calming the centre of Jesús, but object to traffic being diverted through Estruç as part of the temporary arrangement.

The centre of Jesús is due to reopen to general traffic on Friday, September 25, after almost a month-long pilot scheme. The municipality has not yet decided what permanent traffic arrangement will eventually be adopted.

Residents continue their protest

Residents of Carrer Estruç have kept banners displayed on balconies, walls and other parts of the street during the pilot.

Messages including “Peatonal sí, carretera no” reflect the residents' position: they are not calling for the pedestrianisation of Jesús to be abandoned, but are objecting to their street becoming a route for diverted traffic.

The residents say they have experienced an increase in both the volume and speed of vehicles since the pilot began.

Estruç became part of the diversion route

The temporary pedestrianisation scheme closed a section of approximately 100 metres of the EI-100A through the centre of Jesús.

Vehicles travelling through the village were redirected mainly through Gavina, Estruç and Tucà.

The arrangement was designed to remove through-traffic from the centre and create more space for pedestrians, but it also shifted some of that traffic onto nearby residential streets.

Concerns over speed and safety

For the Estruç residents, the main concern has been the effect of the additional traffic on a residential street.

They have raised particular concerns about vehicle speeds and the safety of people using the area.

The street is also home to a medical centre and a centre for older people, which residents say makes traffic conditions especially important because the facilities are used by elderly people and others with reduced mobility.

Residents previously organised a petition calling for general traffic to be kept out of Estruç, with access maintained for residents, emergency services and other authorised vehicles.

The council has responded

Santa Eulària Mayor Carmen Ferrer met with Estruç residents on September 9 to hear their concerns and discuss possible changes.

Following that meeting, the council announced plans for a surveillance camera to monitor traffic, particularly vehicle speeds, on the affected street.

The municipality also considered restoring two-way traffic on Carrer Tucà as a way of reducing the pressure on Estruç.

Those measures have not ended the residents' protest.

Jesús returns to traffic on Friday

The pedestrianisation pilot officially ends on Friday, September 25.

General traffic will return to the centre of Jesús, but the municipality says several changes introduced during the trial will remain.

The affected section of Carrer Faisà will continue to be closed to traffic.

The taxi stop introduced during the pilot will remain in place, and the direction of traffic on the road connecting Gavina and Faisà will also continue under the current arrangement.

The reopening therefore does not simply restore every road to the configuration that existed before the experiment.

No permanent solution has been chosen

The Town Hall has stressed that the pilot was designed as a temporary and reversible test.

The municipality says it has used the period to collect real-world information about traffic flows and to gather views from residents, businesses and other users.

Now that the pilot is ending, technical staff will analyse the vehicle counts, routes used and effects on neighbouring streets before considering future options.

The municipality says any future proposal will undergo the relevant administrative process and will be presented for public input before a definitive decision is adopted.

The key question is where the traffic goes

One of the main issues to emerge from the pilot is whether removing through-traffic from the village centre simply shifts the problem elsewhere.

The municipality says one of its objectives is to reduce vehicles travelling through Jesús without a destination there while maintaining appropriate access for residents, businesses and essential services.

The experience on Estruç has therefore become an important part of the assessment of whether the current arrangement can be modified or replaced.

The issue reaches the plenary session

Thursday's ordinary plenary session at Santa Eulària Town Hall includes a control motion concerning the management of the pedestrianisation of the centre of Jesús.

The session is scheduled for 08:30.

The debate provides an opportunity for the municipal government to explain the information collected during the pilot and its approach to the problems reported on Estruç.

At the time of publication, however, the municipal government had not yet published the results of the traffic counts from the pilot.

Residents say their concerns remain unresolved

For the residents of Estruç, the end of the pilot does not automatically resolve their concerns.

They want any future pedestrianisation arrangement to avoid transferring traffic problems to their residential street.

The banners along the road have remained throughout the trial, reflecting the residents' continuing demand for a different traffic solution.

Their position is therefore not against pedestrianisation in principle, but against the specific traffic diversion used during the pilot.

What happens after the pilot?

From Friday, the centre of Jesús will once again allow general traffic.

After that, the municipality will assess the data collected during the trial and review the comments received from residents and businesses.

The council will then decide what alternatives can be considered for the future.

Any definitive change will have to go through the corresponding administrative procedure and allow residents and the wider public to make comments and allegations before a final decision.

A temporary experiment with a wider impact

The Jesús pilot was intended to test how public space and traffic could be reorganised in the centre of the village.

The experience has also demonstrated the difficulty of changing traffic patterns without affecting surrounding residential streets.

The municipality now has to weigh the data from the pilot against the concerns raised by people living on Estruç and elsewhere in the village.

For now, the immediate change is clear: general traffic returns to central Jesús on September 25, while the longer-term traffic arrangement remains undecided.