The Tenerife Island Council is finalising the preparations for one of the most complex operations ever carried out in a roadwork: the transfer from Seville to the Island of the 11 metal pieces weighing 10 tons each that will shape the skeleton of the new Padre Anchieta pedestrian bridge, in the municipality of La Laguna.
Furthermore, it is a project that will revolutionize the traffic in Tenerife with a never-before-used solution in the island’s road network: a 314-meter ring-shaped pedestrian walkway to alleviate congestion in the roundabout – the main entrance to the historic centre of La Laguna through the North motorway (TF-5) – and ensure the safety of the numerous pedestrians, mainly University of La Laguna students studying in the nearby faculties.
The Island Highways Department, led by Dámaso Arteaga, expects the OHLA company to finish building the first metal modules in Seville next March of the 11 that will form the bridge. Meanwhile, they are dealing with the numerous procedures required for the operation. It should be noted that for the road transport, special trucks of over 30 metres will be needed, and for the sea journey to Tenerife, large cargo ships capable of carrying a heavy load.
This will be the pedestrian walkway of the Padre Anchieta roundabout. / E.D.
“It will be a very complex operation. We need to even obtain special permits for the transport of the modules, which are enormous. And then, when the pieces are on the Island, the complicated assembly tasks will come,” says Dámaso Arteaga.
[–>The councillor details that it has been a real engineering challenge. “The metal pieces have to be perfectly adjusted, to the millimetre, for the assembly to be successful. Any small change in the terrain or the work forces a redesign of the bridge. These adjustments and bureaucratic requirements are what we are finalising now,” explains the Highways councillor.
This 314-meter pedestrian walkway and the associated roads will be crucial to alleviate traffic congestion on the North motorway TF-5
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The pieces will start arriving in the coming months. Once assembled at the Padre Anchieta roundabout, work will be carried out to complete the walkway and the new associated scalextric. It is one of the vital works of the package of measures deployed by the Tenerife president, Rosa Dávila, to reduce congestion on the North motorway. Precisely this roundabout is one of the worst bottlenecks and one of the main causes of saturation on the TF-5.
At Padre Anchieta the vehicles moving on the TF-5 to the North or to Santa Cruz converge, as well as those heading to La Laguna and El Rosario, those going to the university faculties, and the buses from the interchange located at this point. Too much congestion. Hence, the remodelling of the roundabout has gone beyond just this large walkway.
This will be the pedestrian walkway of the Padre Anchieta roundabout. / E.D.
Also, new access roads to La Laguna and the faculties are being built. In May of last year, the tunnel linking the La Esperanza road (TF-24) with the motorway towards Santa Cruz de Tenerife came into operation, removing numerous vehicles from this dense junction that is completely changing its appearance.
The most optimistic forecasts indicate that the walkway will open after next summer. The eight pillars – in white, like the rest of the structure – were already installed on the Island last October and were assembled between that month and November. The pedestrian ring will be supported on them, finally solving a serious safety issue: the university students and residents in this part of La Laguna will no longer have to risk their lives crossing the roundabout.
The most optimistic forecasts indicate that the walkway will open after next summer
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The complexity of the reform of this junction has been widely discussed. It involves
The high prices of materials due to inflation and the scarcity of them due to the war in Ukraine have increased – the budget has already exceeded 10 million euros – and caused delays in the development of the project. The design of the walkway was commissioned to Fhecor Ingenieros Consultores in 2018. Their proposal won the ideas competition convened by the Cabildo.
The Padre Achieta roundabout will soon feature this pedestrian walkway. / E.D.
Fhecor describes the objectives of the project as follows: “At present, a high volume of vehicles use the Padre Anchieta link, which at certain times of the day results in queues forming at the access ramps to the roundabout. Furthermore, this intense flow of vehicles is disrupted by the heavy pedestrian traffic, as the link is also an important pedestrian route connecting urban and university areas. Pedestrians using it must make multiple level crossings (via pedestrian crossings provided on each access ramp of the link), with the consequent risks involved.”
According to the company, the proposal achieves “an effective interrelation between both areas through an elevated infrastructure for pedestrian traffic, effectively resolving mobility between them”.
“From a structural perspective,” Fhecor concludes, “the proposed solution is essentially a continuous curved beam in the form of a ring, supported by a system of point supports. The circumferential shape of the walkway gives the whole structure a continuous geometric space with great visual dynamism”.
