The Cabildo of Tenerife will put into service two shuttle buses that will connect the North with the university campus of Guajara, starting on the 23rd. Line 608 will carry out the route Icod de los Vinos, Los Realejos, La Orotava junction to the campus, while line 603 will It will connect La Orotava to Guajara from Puerto de la Cruz. These shuttles will operate during peak hours, although the schedule is conditioned and in the process of adjustment based on the mobility survey prepared by the University of La Laguna and the geolocation of the students and their academic turn.
This measure is possible under an agreement with the University of La Laguna that will allow decongesting the bus lines most used during rush hour and reducing traffic delays on the Northern Highway. To this end, they will also reinforce nine lines, which will double the offer during morning rush hours. Among them, the president of the Cabildo highlighted 122 (Candelaria-Santa Cruz), one of which registers a higher level of saturation and which concentrates the most criticism from its users.
Other lines to be reinforced are 106, which links the Icod de los Vinos station with the Santa Cruz Interchange. It will double the offer and go from 35 to 62 trips in the first hours of Monday to Friday. Likewise, line 108 (Los Realejos-Santa Cruz) will increase its frequency from 65 to 94 trips, while line 108 (Icod-Santa Cruz) will increase its frequency from 35 to 62 trips. Line 100, which leaves Puerto de la Cruz bound for the Tenerife capital Interchange, will increase from 11 current routes to 14. As for line 473, between Los Cristianos (Arona) and Los Gigantes (Santiago del Teide), will go from making 58 trips to 70 trips, just like the 470, from El Médano (Granadilla de Abona) to Los Cristianos (Arona), which will go from 32 to 42.
More drivers
The island Government reported all of this when taking stock of the 20 measures it implemented during the 90 days of management. Balance released by the president of the Cabildo, Rosa Davila; the vice president, Lope Afonso; and the Ministers of Mobility and Highways, Eulalia García and Dámaso Arteaga, respectively.
In this framework, they explained that to make the readjustment of the bus service possible, Titsa hires 25 drivers, who are already being trained, and Dávila announced the intention of having 70 more workers at the end of December “to reinforce the lines that are most saturated.”
Likewise, he recalled the purchase of 247 buses with the island Administration’s own resources, a measure that led to savings of almost 20 million euros in financial interest. The balance included the reference to the measure implemented on September 29, with the reduction to 10 of the number of trips necessary to access free bus and tram transportation.
Roads
Regarding road measures, Dámaso Arteaga alluded to the improvement of signage at various points, the reduction of lanes “and the authorization of others to improve the points with more crowds.” Among all the measures adopted, Arteaga listed those works that, apart from major interventions in infrastructure, “are actions that substantially improve the situation and mobility.”
Guamasa
The first and most important for the Highway Minister is the specific cut off of access through Guamasa to the TF-5. Between six and ten in the morning, traffic will be diverted towards the Tenerife North Airport exit. Dámaso Arteaga pointed out that “it is about converting TF-235 into a service road for the Northern Highway in that section, where there is a greater retention of vehicles.”
Another measure that will be carried out in the middle of the month is the traffic lights on the walkway of the Padre Anchieta roundabout. Rosa Dávila confirmed that “it is a bottleneck of the TF-5 and will contribute to easier passage for both vehicles and pedestrians.”
Other measures
On the island’s roads and to improve mobility, the Guargacho roundabout was built, on TF-652, with the intention of improving the safety of the intersection at that point and achieving greater traffic flow. Also, the transition to a single lane of the El Guincho-Icod highway, with the aim of “calming traffic at a point where speed was exceeded and fatal accidents were recorded.” Likewise, he cited the location of the give way at the Tenerife North Airport link and the Anaza, in the TF-5; the reduction of lanes and the enabling of the deceleration lane at the entrance to Las Chafiras (San Miguel de Abona), using dragon’s teeth signs; limit the confluence of TF-46 with TF-1 to one lane; lane commissioning straight Guajara-Universidad and the new link of the TF-24 with the TF-5 in the Santa Cruz direction; the execution of the Cuesta de la Villa roundabout, in Santa Úrsula, and the La Victoria roundabout, at the intersection of the TF-217 with the TF-5 junction; the proposal to improve the access roundabout to Golf del Sur, on the TF-65, and the start of works on the TF-620, in Fasnia.
Mobility Plan
The presentation of the first phase of the Insular Sustainable Mobility Plan to all social agents is a fact that was highlighted by the area’s counselor, Eulalia García, who announced that the document will be publicly available shortly. Another relevant note is the withdrawal of waste transport vehicles at rush hours along the road sections with the greatest congestion: TF-5 towards Santa Cruz and TF-1 towards Arona, from Arico. A list that includes the adhesion of companies, in the case of Martínez Cano, to the withdrawal of heavy transport during the hours of greatest congestion.
In these 90 days of management, Eulalia García recalled that the Cabildo established with the Government of the Canary Islands a roadmap on priority infrastructure for the Island, with special attention to interventions that can be launched in a shorter period of time to alleviate traffic. The exit to public information is the BUS-HOV lane of the TF-5, between Santa Cruz and La Orotava; the direct lane project at the San Isidro connection with the TF -64, direction EL Médano; the awarding of the drafting of the Los Cristianos Interchange project and the Avenida Chayofita burial; The signage at the Los Rodeos roundabout and the Polígono del Valle de Güímar direct lane project are measures that seek to improve mobility.
Tourism
The vice president of the Cabildo, Lope Afonso, stressed the cost to health, the territorial balance and the economic scope of the current situation in, for example, the tourism sector. He announced an agreement with the employer, Ashotel, through which they will apply “a pilot project” through which they will offer “collective transportation to 1,800 employees of large work centers, among other measures.” The measure will reduce the presence of vehicles on Tenerife’s roads.
Distractions
In order to avoid dangerous situations and delays resulting from drivers’ curiosity about accidents, the island Government will activate an emergency service that will facilitate the rapid intervention of tow trucks to remove accident vehicles.
Commitment fulfilled
Rosa Dávila recalled the commitment made as a candidate, first, and as president of the Tenerife Town Council, later, to apply five essential measures to alleviate the very serious traffic problems suffered by Tenerife’s highways in her first 90 days in office. «Well, there are not five, but 20 that we have taken, which represent a substantial change with respect to what had been done until now: trusting that the construction of infrastructure, in the long term, was going to solve mobility problems. . Only with everyone’s commitment and the facilities from the administrations will we be able to make a sustainable mobility system a reality, which is what we have to move towards,” he explained.
