Yesterday, between 06:30 and 09:00, the announced closure of the link from Guamasa (exit 14) to the TF-5, direction Santa Cruz, and the diversion of its traffic along the TF-235 for about two kilometers to join the TF-5 through exit 12 (El Portezuelo)as a measure of Council to try to alleviate the queues that occur first thing in the morning at this point in the northern highway, in the municipality of La Laguna, and which will be tested for seven days to assess its effectiveness. And, although it seems that on this first day of testing the traffic has been somewhat more fluid at this point on the TF-5, the traffic jams have nevertheless moved to the parallel roads, such as lto TF-235 itself, which was the most saturated, or TF-152, the main northern highway.
This was also recognized by the Cabildo, whose Highway Minister, Dámaso Arteaga, indicated yesterday that “the first assessment is that an improvement has been perceived in the TF-5 and, on the other hand, the TF-235 has worsened, especially , which has been quite full of vehicles”, so he stated that “we are moderately satisfied”, since the assessment of the first day in terms of fluidity on the TF-5 “is positive”, but “there are aspects to correct and improve on those roads that reach TF-235, where we notice greater retention.” “The objective is to achieve slow but continuous circulation, without stopping,” he stated. He pointed out that they have calculated that the delays have been between 15 and 20 minutes.
Likewise, Dámaso Arteaga explained that “the road that comes from Agua García (TF-237) early in the morning has worked well, but it has been loaded with vehicles throughout the hours.” Furthermore, said road, “when it meets the TF-235, there are always traffic jams at that point,” at the roundabout in front of the old North Airport terminal. “The Civil Guard has been located there, which has facilitated the incorporation of the vehicles, and at that point we have to make some decision to improve this proposal,” he added.
Dámaso Arteaga wanted to remember and make it clear that “it is a provisional measure that we are applying for a few days to draw conclusions and make decisions in the short, medium and long term”, so he asked for “the drivers’ understanding of this entire environment” and your collaboration during this test. He also recognized “the willingness of the neighbors who are suffering a little more from the delays.”
Likewise, the insular Highway Councilor thanked the Civil Guard “for its involvement in traffic regulation, which has allowed us to resolve certain important delays.” “Our intention is not to harm anyone, but to try to put measures on the table that will allow” to alleviate the traffic problems that were repeated at that point on the TF-5, he emphasized. “Maybe once the data has been analyzed and evaluated, we go back to what we did before, but it will help us to make some adjustments to some links, to try to improve them, especially in the old terminal, there is a point that we can improve, even a medium-term performance of works can be carried out, that is what we are evaluating,” he explained. But he insisted that the measure will only last for seven days, “for now nothing more.”
Neighbors
Meanwhile, from the neighborhood side, the president of the Guamasa neighborhood association, Jonay Lutzardo, denounced yesterday that “we cannot say that the measure works when there are people who have been in line for an hour. The TF-5 flows, but the problem moves to the side roads, something that we had already discussed in all the meetings we have had, both with the insular Highway Councilor and with the mayor of La Laguna, that the road was going to collapse. TF-235 and TF-152, which is what happened, kilometer-long queues.” In fact, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) reported yesterday at around 7:00 a.m., through platform
In this sense, on the Facebook profile of the neighborhood association you could read several comments from neighbors affected by the traffic jams that they had encountered in the morning on the TF-235 and TF-152 roads, which had lengthened the usual time of their journeys, denouncing, for example, having taken up to 50 minutes from the closed Guamasa link to the airport. In light of this, the neighborhood association has called, through another Facebook post, to all residents, from any point in the municipality, affected by the closure of the link to an assembly in the Plaza de Guamasa tomorrow, at 6:00 p.m. , to agree on actions for the measures taken by the Cabildo.
La Laguna City Council
For his part, from the City Council, the mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, stated that “we are aware of the conditions that have been registered on the first day of this measure applied by the Tenerife Cabildo. In fact, we have received several complaints from residents of Guamasa, El Ortigal, the region and other areas of the municipality that have been affected.”
“However, as we committed to the Cabildo,” he noted, “we are going to allow the trial period established between both institutions to analyze the data collected by the technicians and evaluate the effectiveness of this measure and what impact it has on the traffic on the TF-5 and secondary roads, such as the one that has been altered with this detour.”
The measure will be tested for six more days, except weekends and the November 1 holiday, from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Specifically, it will still apply on the 26th, 27th, 30th and 31st of this month of October and on November 2nd and 3rd.
This action is part of the twenty actions adopted by the new island Government (CC-PP) in these first 100 days of mandate to try to alleviate the queues on the North and South highways, especially on the TF-5, to the He hopes that large road projects can be undertaken, such as the third lanes on both highways, which the Cabildo is firmly committed to.
