The Council of Tenerife The execution of the Bus-Vao lane project on the TF-1, the Autopista del Sur, between Santa Cruz and Güímar, is put on public display. This infrastructure will alleviate traffic congestion and improve mobility in the corridor between the island’s capital and kilometer point 22 of the insular highway. By public transport, that is, the bus from Titsa, it will be possible to cover the distance between the capital and the southern municipality of reference in the Valley in just fifteen minutes.
The Island Corporation announces the initiative, pending possible allegations, to undertake a work, to be developed using ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) technology, with the necessary infrastructure to allow the exclusive use of the left lane at rush hour in the morning (from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.) for vehicles such as buses, taxis, motorcycles and those with high occupancy; that is, those that transport two or more people.
Embark
In order to carry out this structural framework in island mobility, it will also be essential to have, in addition, the establishment of a reduced number of boarding and disembarkation points for those vehicles with priority in travel.
The execution period for the work is twelve months and the budget amounts to approximately 21.8 million euros. The project will be in public information for a period of 20 business days.
decongest
The Councilor for Mobility of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Eulalia García, indicates that the objective of this infrastructure is “to relieve traffic congestion and, therefore, improve citizen mobility in the TF-1 corridor between Güímar and Santa Cruz” . The Bus-Vao lane will increase its capacity, so the travel times of collective transport users in buses and in vehicles occupied by two or more people (VAO) will be reduced”.
Characteristics
The length of the lane will be 18.6 kilometers in the section from kilometer point 1,400 to 20, in the direction of Santa Cruz, with management based on Intelligent Transportation Systems, through beaconing with light signals and horizontal signage, variable message panel ( PMV), installation of cameras and detection system for vehicle capacity. This model will allow the collection of data and information to improve traffic efficiency. In addition, the improvement of the link that connects the TF-1 with Mercatenerife or the expansion of the road after its fork with the TF-4 are contemplated.
Systematize
The new lane will have light beacons to limit access exclusively to private vehicles with two or more people inside and to public transport. The project will have the aforementioned intelligent transport system. The previous island councilor for Transport, Enrique Arriaga, decidedly bet on the Bus-Vao lanes. Regarding the TF-1, it promoted the tests carried out just a year ago in July 2022 with a test carried out in the Santa Cruz Interchange that allowed checking the resistance and wear of different luminaires.
Reward
This initiative basically aims to reward people who share vehicles or use public transport, since at times of traffic delays or slowdowns they will be able to access this fast lane. The system consists of creating an area of red and green lights that will only allow certain vehicles to enter the lane at times of retention. Therefore, when traffic flows normally, the lights will remain green allowing regular use of the lane, while in times of traffic jam it will be restricted by lighting it red so that only the aforementioned vehicles can access.
The implementation of this project will contribute to making Tenerife go from having the current 3.2 kilometers of Bus-Vao lanes to almost 30. The objective is to be able to have up to 50 on this type of lane on the Island in the medium term.
