The president of the Government of the Canary IslandsYesterday, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Minister of Public Works, Sebastián Franquis, paid a visit to the western closure section of the Tenerife Island Ring, between Santiago del Teide and El Tanque.
It was advanced that the tunnel works They are 80% finished on the inside (one kilometer would remain) and 45% on the outside, pending a new modification of the project to build two lanes in each direction, instead of one, on the outer roads.
In addition, the possibility was left open, in the future, that the tunnel -now 14 meters wide, with a siding every kilometer- could have three lanes in each direction.
The president and the counselor, together with the delegate of the Government in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana; the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín; the mayoress of El Tanque, Esther Morales Sánchez, and of Los Silos, María Macarena Fuentes Socas, and the mayor of Santiago del Teide, Emilio Navarro, accompanied by the general director of Road Infrastructure of the Canary Islands Government, José Luis Delgado, verified the state of of the work, which is being carried out both outside and inside the Erjos double tunnel, the largest (5.1 kilometres) currently being built in Spain.
It has a budget of more than 240 million euros, which has now risen to 256, due to the increase in the prices of materials and an execution period of 48 months, which should be completed in November and which, due to a change in the project, will be delayed until March 2025, after the start of the work on November 25, 2019. The delay is also due to an environmental change in the north, so as not to affect an area of laurisilva, recently resolved.
The Cabildo, in addition, has set up two nurseries, with more than 3,000 Canary Island pines, to replant those affected areas in the vicinity of the great tunnel.
As stated yesterday, it is very likely that the two drillings (north and south) will be communicated before the summer, noting that they are drilling about eight meters a day, with greater difficulty in the north, as more basalt is found, recalled José Luis Slim.
The Canarian president stressed that of the 16 road projects committed in the agreement for the island of Tenerife, a total of 13 are already in execution or committed, with the recent approval of the DIA for the section between Icod and San Juan de la Rambla, as well as for the La Laguna variant.
“In the face of words and stories, we show actions and data, and that is what citizens want: governments that solve problems, and many of us have solved them, such as that highway agreement and this work on the largest tunnel in the Islands.” He explained that the Ministry of Public Works has paid work certifications worth 104.7 million, 45% of the initial budget. In addition, Torres recalled that on November 11, 2019, he signed the tunnel work decree a few days after the EIA (Environmental Impact Declaration) expired.
One before and one after
The president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, assured that “this work marks a before and after in the communications of the north and south of the Island”, and announced that “in 2023 the start of two other works will be published that will represent a transcendental change on the roads and will undoubtedly help to solve the traffic problem we have on the TF-5, such as those from Icod de los Vinos to San Juan de la Rambla, and the section of the TF-5 that it goes from Guamasa to the lower part of La Laguna, which have already approved the environmental impact statement”.
This work directly employs 102 workers, almost all from northern Spain, including operators and specialized personnel who work three eight-hour shifts, seven days a week. This work also indirectly employs another 204 workers, including suppliers, drivers or restaurant personnel who serve the workers.
