The traffic on the north highway, also called TF-5, continues to be one of the pending subjects in Tenerife, perhaps from the trunks. The long queues that the road suffers daily are no longer news if we refer to the meaning of the Royal Spanish Academy –new data or information, referring to a subject or a person-, but the truth is that during this last week the exhaustion of the continuous stoppages suffered by the residents of the north of the Island has gone in crescendo.
Precisely the architect and professor of Urbanism at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona, Joaquín Sabaté, warned yesterday that Tenerife had exceeded its car load capacity, prompting the authorities to search “Radical measures” in big cities. “The fundamental conclusion is that we must limit the space for the car because it tends to occupy everything that is left to occupy, in the future it is possible that in the central city only taxis, distribution and electric vehicles will be allowed,” he explained.
In this regard, numerous debates arise: the decentralization of Santa Cruz, the provision of new lanes, the encouragement of public transport … From DIARIO DE AVISOS we have wanted to give a voice to those who are truly affected by this problem that, legislature after legislature, takes away sleep – never better said – the Northerners.
Laura, 28, works as a Primary Education teacher at a school located in the metropolitan area. He is natural and resides in the municipality of San Juan de la Rambla, so his alarm clock goes off every day at 5.30 am to get to his workplace on time – hopefully. “The retentions occur almost daily and are mainly motivated by collisions due to range, collisions or damaged vehicles,” says the teacher, who acknowledges that she has been up to three hours and a fourth stop on the highway. In fact, he affirms that “this year there is more traffic than ever.” Despite the fact that the ramblera prefers to live in his hometown, where he “disconnects from the stress and overwhelm of the city”, he assures that suffering from this traffic density on a daily basis generates “bad mood” when going to his school and even “anxiety on Sundays when I remember what I face during the week ”. “And so on every holy day,” he says.
For her part, Ariadna, 20, must move to the capital of Tenerife because she is studying a Degree in Nursing at the University of La Laguna. Lives in Los Realejos and has stayed up to a maximum of two and a half hours trapped in the collapse of the TF-5 highway. As the university student explains to this newspaper, “I usually leave home well in advance, but there are times when I arrive so late because of the queues that I lose my attendance.” For this reason, he has considered the option of moving to Santa Cruz or La Laguna, but “I don’t do it because I want to be close to my family.” The future nurse proposes the fitting out of a third lane and facilitating access to public transport because chaos in this area of the island “happens daily.”
Mayte, 57, also drives 50 kilometers almost daily. Her habitual residence is located in the town of San Juan de la Rambla and she works as a nursing assistant at the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital. “I leave home around 5.30 am to arrive on time because the problem is not only the kilometer queues that originate on the highway, but the parking lot”, declares the affected person, who also admits that “for a month there have been many more vehicles ”And inevitably more withholdings.
His morning shift, which makes up 12 hours, begins at 8:00, so his total count of working hours, taking into account his displacement, is almost 16. It affects my stomach a lot ”, but admits that“ I end the day exhausted ”. In this regard, it states that it would travel by bus if there were greater time flexibility and affordable prices. Mayte does not hesitate when she says that she would buy a flat in the Tenerife capital “if I get the Primitiva” because “going to the hospital in just a few minutes is quality of life.” At the moment, what is up to this injured party, like so many others due to the traffic on the Northern Highway, is to avoid traffic jams and, therefore, rob him hours to sleep.
