The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Town Hall, which has been removing parking spaces in the city for years, particularly in its central area without offering alternatives to residents, announced this Thursday that it has approved the contract award for the demolition of the old garages located at number 14 San Martín Street, in the El Toscal neighbourhood, for their subsequent conditioning to accommodate around 70 parking spaces.
The city’s mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, states that it is an investment exceeding 234,000 euros to have these 70 new parking spaces in El Toscal within four months, partially compensating for the losses due to the works on La Rosa Street.
It has not been specified whether these will be free parking spaces, like those eliminated by the Town Hall, or if they will be paid.
The Councillor for Infrastructures and Works, Javier Rivero, indicates that with the planned investment the goal is not only to demolish but to condition the plot to join it to the other half that was already executed so that in total 70 parking spaces will be created. Subsequently, in this plot, a multi-storey car park is expected to be located, currently being worked on by Municipal Housing.
The councillor for the Centro-Ifara district, Purificación Dávila, explains that, to avoid generating noise or discomfort to the two nearby schools, the works will start in the summer.
Recently, Santa Cruz de Tenerife has lost hundreds of parking spaces in that area not only due to the works on La Rosa Street, where all existing ones have been eliminated, but also due to the implementation of the controversial cycle lane in the city’s central streets, where numerous spaces have been lost. Additionally, this has caused traffic jams by removing loading and unloading zones, bus stops, an entire lane on Pilar Street, and taxi stands.
The result is not only traffic jams where there were none but also numerous complaints from residents, who even staged two protests to demand the removal of the cycle lane, particularly given the scarcity of cyclists in the city due to its uneven terrain.
