Arriaga rules out the viability of the reversible lane on the TF-5

Martín assured this Monday that the island council would be “delighted to be able to implement this measure, if it is shown that it is an adequate formula” to end the queues. A condition that, according to Arriaga, is not met, which is why the insular administration is not now considering making new tests of the reversible lane after the failure of 2010.

«The reversible lane is one of the options that have been considered, but after tests carried out years ago with many fewer vehicles than now, the technicians have concluded that it is not advisable. And the reason is simple: a reversible lane works, just like the Vao Bus, when there are three lanes available. If we use one of the two lanes in the North direction as the VAO Bus in the direction of Santa Cruz, we would have to put the 80,000 vehicles that go in that direction in a single lane. That means we would collapse the northbound freeway. The traffic would be completely stopped, “warns Arriaga.

15 kilometers with cones

“The technicians from the insular Highway area and the DGT agree that the fixed reversible lanes that work on the peninsula are the ones that are segregated from the rest of the traffic with concrete walls. In this case, cones would have to be placed in a 15 kilometer section. But the problem is not there, it is that there are not three lanes available, only two, so 80,000 vehicles heading north would have to be channeled through a single lane (with no possibility of overtaking). The problem towards Santa Cruz would not be solved and we would create a new problem by collapsing the TF-5 also in a northerly direction”, he stresses.

Although he rules out the reversible lane that some mobility experts have requested, Arriaga insists that “we continue to look for other alternatives, although there are no magical solutions. If not, any previous government would have applied them. He announces that “we continue working with our technicians, and with those of the DGT, which is competent in these matters, to find a solution to try to alleviate these traffic jams a bit. Although the definitive solution goes through those great works that we already know », he concludes. The counselor prefers not to detail the proposals being worked on “so as not to generate debates on issues that are not technically decided”. The solution could be to divert traffic through other routes, but that could transfer the problem to other points in the network. The definitive proposals to try to solve the collapse of the TF-5 will be put on the table in the first quarter of 2023, when the Island Mobility Plan is expected to be presented.

Given the arrival of free transport as of January 1, the insular Mobility area is not considering repeating isolated experiences such as that of the interchange in the La Villa Shopping Center: “It would not make sense because it was not very successful and it was hardly possible to attract one or two passengers, one of whom was precisely the current insular Highway Director. It made no sense. Now, even if it is free, we do not expect a large increase in passengers (around 20%) because the bus will not be faster than the private vehicle.

The Tenerife Council has practically finished the project for the HOV Bus lane of the TF-1 between Güímar and Santa Cruz. In October they awarded the wording of the Bus Vao lane between Santa Cruz and La Laguna, “which had to wait for the La Laguna ring road project to be completed, which fits into the TF-5 at the height of the Vía de Ronda”. The exclusive third lane for buses and vehicles with high occupancy between La Orotava and La Laguna is in the drafting phase, “in the hands of the Government of the Canary Islands for a year, so we expect it to be delivered at the beginning of 2023. From there, the sectoral reports and the expropriations will have to be made before bidding for the work, probably in 2024. It will be the last to be executed because it is the most complex.

While the Vao Bus from La Orotava waits for that lane, the Cabildo trusts that the implementation of the closure of the island ring between El Tanque and Santiago del Teide and the improvement in the Padre Anchieta roundabout contribute to reduce traffic. “These are measures that will allow us to make small advances and reduce traffic jams, since we calculate that removing a thousand vehicles from the TF-5 in the morning means the difference between a collapse or fluid traffic. Something that is already seen when there are holidays in the ULL», details.

The president of the Provincial Federation of Construction Entities (Fepeco) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Óscar Izquierdo, stresses that “the solutions to end the queues are clear and must be put into practice: they are the variant of La Laguna and the third rail. The reversible lane is one more occurrence of those that come out every time a work is proposed in Tenerife. A new idea to try to stop the works that must go ahead on the island. Let’s stop using experiments and useless promises. It has already been shown that it was a failure and it would be to fall into the same error again.