The Sapper Battalion of the 16th Canary Islands Brigade and the 81st Logistics Support Group finished removing the Bailey-type bridge that they had placed last July in the capital’s San Andrés neighborhood, while rehabilitating the historic pass that unites, Since 1935, this fishing village with the population groups that are past the ravine.
A bridge that was declared in an emergency situation by the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, after receiving a technical report that determined that this infrastructure was not in good condition and that it posed a risk for drivers and pedestrians . Something that made him act immediately and ask the Ministry of Defense for help.
A bridge, the military one, which took five days to assemble and which allowed the residents of the Anaga Massif not to be cut off from communication. And it is that, if it had not been for this step, they would have had to reach their homes and businesses through the road that connects the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna with the area, a route that has many curves, with narrow roads and with a duration of an hour and a half. The rehabilitation works took eight months.
function
The military bridge has fulfilled its function and has been removed once the historic San Andrés footbridge has been repaired and opened to the public. At least the top part. And it is that the one below will open, at the latest, on Thursday of next week.
This was indicated a few days ago to DIARIO DE AVISOS by the Infrastructure Councilor of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, Dámaso Arteaga, who justified the delay in the work on the shortage that exists worldwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic . Something that has caused, according to the mayor, “a delay in receiving supplies and equipment to finish the work.”
Faced with this situation, the neighbors are “happy, because we are back to normal and mobility is ensured, but, at the same time,” disgusted, since “we continue to think that this should never have happened,” he told DIARIO OF NOTICES Luján González, president of the Association of Neighbors La Voz del Valle Taganana. He considers that “there was carelessness and neglect on the part of the Santa Cruz City Council, which did not take action on the matter, and that it had known, for a long time, on the part of the neighbors, that the San Andrés bridge was in very bad condition ”. Luján González assured that the neighbors do not feel well cared for and pointed out that “they have promised us many things that have not been fulfilled.” Such is their dissatisfaction with the local Administration that they indicated that they regret “having lost the City Council, at the time, to become part of the Santa Cruz, which seems to only be in charge of the center. We are attached to the capital not because we want to. We know that it is very complicated and that, in a way, it is a utopia to separate, but we do not feel good. We respect the City Council, but we do not feel like Santa Cruz. They talk about the city, but not about the municipality ”. Harsh words from this neighborhood representative, despite the fact that the mayor of Infrastructure, Dámaso Arteaga, said in this same newspaper a few days ago that during the entire period that the work lasted, the City Council was in contact with the neighbors to reduce the inconvenience and to facilitate the arrival of tourists to these centers, which receive so many visitors.
ANOTHER GATEWAY
Dámaso Arteaga revealed to DIARIO DE AVISOS that the Consistory would work hard to mount another bridge, over the next year, just where the military has been installed until now, to make the mobility of locals and visitors to the Massif easier. Something that the neighbors had already demanded in a demonstration in July.
