The Circle of Entrepreneurs and Professionals of the South of Tenerife (CEST) proposes an urgent and provisional action in the section of the motorway that runs between the accesses of Guaza and Los Cristianos in both ways. “It is about minimizing the very serious impact that is currently being recorded, with the return of traffic delays that are affecting daily activity and tourism, therefore, the economy,” according to its president, Roberto Ucelay.
Around 40% of the traffic that runs through the TF-1 passing through the South and Southwest of the Island corresponds to workers from other parts of Tenerife. Currently, as before the pandemic, the motorway is again blocked both in the morning and, “and especially, between two and five in the afternoon, when Traffic from Playa de Fañabé to Guaza is paralyzed», in the municipalities of Adeje and Arona, respectively. “The afternoon is being lethal.”
In his analysis of the situation, Ucelay speaks of a serious fact: «The impact, delay and damage that we cause to customers, tourists who come to enjoy their savings in Tenerife». The hotelier affirms that “there are tourists who have to leave hotels and aparthotels three or four hours in advance to ensure a margin of time to arrive at Tenerife South Airport on time.” An infrastructure “that is not prepared to provide the space and recreation that allows them to spend an hour or two waiting to return home.”
With the premise that “the situation is complicated again”, the president of the CEST is convinced that the Canarian Government and the Cabildo will seek the urgent and provisional solution that is required. He manifests it after a meeting with the general director of Road Infrastructure of the regional Executive, José Luis Delgado, to whom the Circle officially transferred the alternatives studied by this organization. The measures would be temporary, until the tender for the third lane of the highway. Ucelay assures that the project of the third rail of the TF-1 «seems to be paralyzed, but the collapse of the road continues and the population of the south requires quick solutions, which allow them to develop their lives without the stress and disorders that traffic generates in the conductors.
«The highway blockade between two and five in the afternoon is being lethal»
First measure.
To solve this situation, which is especially focused on the ascent of the Guaza mountain, The Circle of Entrepreneurs and Professionals of the South of Tenerife proposes, in the first place, to enable a third lane through the adaptation of the median for use in both directions of traffic. It is a proven and effective system, reveals the CEST, recalling that it has already been used during the performance of various works on this road, such as resurfacing. In his proposal, he proposes that it be put into operation, in accordance with the regulations, in the section between Parque de la Reina and the Playa de las Américas junction.
Second measure.
The Circle also transferred to the general director of Road Infrastructure the proposal to proceed with the elimination of the median in this same section. With this, “a reversible lane will be enabled that would be enabled during the morning rush hour for traffic traveling towards Adeje and, during the afternoon (between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., as a priority), in the direction of the capital of Tenerife. For the CEST, with it “Transit through the area will be eased during peak hours, the periods that coincide with the beginning and the end of the work activity. Likewise, they suggest as an alternative, to enable one of the southbound lanes for circulation towards Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the afternoon, and vice versa, in the morning.
“There are tourists who have to leave three and four hours in advance”
third measure.
Another of the Circle’s proposals is to begin the tender for the third lane in this section. “In any case, for the business organization, the best measure to solve the problems of traffic jams continues to be calling for a tender to build the third lane on the entire motorway.”
This road is the artery of the south of the Island, highly traveled by both locals and tourists, “and it is time for it to meet the necessary conditions to withstand the large number of transfers that occur, every day, through it”, explains the president of the businessmen of the South.
Roberto Ucelay assures that “this project has been a historical demand of the Circle and of the citizens, since it is the most effective way to solve the mobility problems that this region suffers and to improve the quality of life of the residents and tourists”. He concludes by emphasizing that the problem worsens as time goes by, although he values the result of the work in Oroteanda as positive, “which reduces the problem significantly as it passes through Las Chafiras.”
