The Department of Public Works of the Government of the Canary Islands The drilling of the second tube of the Erjos tunnel is completed, that is, the drilling of this conduit is completed. The work is part of the closure of the Island Ring in the section between Santiago del Teide and The Tank. This high-capacity infrastructure will circumvent the Island, allowing the structuring of road traffic at the island level, with a reduction in travel time by half.
The Erjos tunnel consists of two parallel tubes, with a length of approximately 4,855 meters, to which are added two false tunnels – 140 meters on the South side and 100 meters on the North side –, 5.1 kilometers long, which makes it the longest road tunnel in the Archipelago and the most important and largest road infrastructure developed by the regional Executive, as well as the one with the greatest value at the national level not only in terms of investment volume, but also in terms of needs. social, economic and mobility that it covers, as indicated by the Department of Public Works.
The first pipe was laid on June 26, and this second one, in the progress phase, on August 15. The drilling, which was carried out mainly by blasting, was carried out in two phases with the objective of reducing the pressures transmitted by the ground in the process of stabilizing the vault. The first, advance, at the top and a second, called destroy, in the rest. Currently, drilling is being carried out in the crushing phase, in the lower part. To carry out this work, which is part of the Highway Agreement of Canary Islands With the State, there is a significant deployment of specialized operators and machinery to undertake the drilling. The work is carried out in three shifts, seven days a week and 24 hours a day, employing more than 300 workers directly.
The project budget currently amounts to 256 million euros and the work It was awarded in September 2019 to the joint venture formed by FCC Construction, Syocsa-Inarsa and El Silbo. To date, more than 50% of the work has already been carried out and completion is expected to take place in the first half of 2025, says the Government of the Canary Islands.
It is worth highlighting an investment of 18 million euros in environmental matters. This task focuses, above all, on the recovery and consolidation of habitats of community interest, as well as the restoration of the La Grama and Bilma mountain quarries, as well as the construction of an edge park that protects the urban area of Santiago del Teide.
The Erjos Tunnel is part of a section of the Island Ring of 11.3 kilometers in length, with one lane in each direction, although work is being done to expand it to two.
