the neighbors of San Juan de la Rambla they demand a safe connection of the North highway (TF-5) with the municipality passing through Barranco Ruiz. Every Sunday noon, a group of rambleros concentrates and circulates to the urban center to expose a demand that dates back more than 40 years. A banner with the legend “for a safe entry and exit to La Rambla” is the meeting point for those who demand a “no expensive” solution, but one that is urgent for the population.
The current situation makes the place a dangerous point of the insular road network, because residents and visitors have to cross the TF-5 to access public transport, as well as vehicles to go to one or another area of the municipality. “This is hell, we risk our lives every day, both the boys to go to study and the foreigners who come here,” they say.
While the neighborhood movement plans to signpost islands or enable a central entry and exit lane, the mayor of the municipality, Ezequiel Domínguez, expresses the Consistory’s support for the neighborhood demand. He places special emphasis on the fact that the solution must not only be for road traffic, but that the Canary Islands Government and the council they must respond to pedestrian use at this point of the North Highway.
They have to cross the TF-5 when passing through the core of La Rambla to even access public transport
In line with the claim of those affected, the councilor calls for an urgent intervention from the supra-municipal administrations and the development of the action that is required. “We are talking about guaranteeing the safety of the neighbors” that affects a road of regional interest, for which he will insist on the regional and island governments “that they come to an agreement” to face a work “that cannot be delayed, that there is what to do yes or yes».
The situation of the entrance and exit to San Juan de la Rambla from the TF-5 differs a lot from what happens just a couple of kilometers away. In Santa Catalina, already in the municipality of La Guancha, the North Highway has a duly marked entrance and exit as well as a central lane and a duly signposted island. ANDs the solution proposed by the residents of San Juan de la Rambla with its Sunday concentrations and with the support of the municipal authorities.
The mayor supports the neighborhood petition and urges the regional and island governments to act without delay
There are 42 years that this population has been raising this claim that they transferred to the current island government, “without a satisfactory response.” In fact, now they want “the president of the Cabildo, not another from down there” to listen to them.
The difficulties of the TF-5 passing through San Juan de la Rambla are also the result of the design of the road itself, built in the sixties of the last century, with an extension materialized at the end of the following decade.
The last section of the Insular Ring that went on public display, between San Juan de la Rambla and Icod, is part of the solution. The Ramblero City Council is clear in its allegations that the link to the nucleus of El Rosario or La Rambla, on the local coast, must be part of this work or, failing that, the current situation must be resolved in the way that was planned from 2016, with a system of new entry and exit lanes, budgeted at around 3.2 million euros. Ezequiel Domínguez says that although the new tunnels will begin to be drilled at the height of the Las Aguas pool, “at this time the improvement of access to La Rambla must also be resolved, so that this part of the municipality is not left in no man’s land”.