SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, supervised this Thursday the work that the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Mobility is developing in the ‘Insular Ring of Tenerife’, between the towns of El Tanque and Santiago del Teide, where it has already been carried out. about 60% of the allocated budget.
During the visit he was accompanied by the Minister of Public Works, Pablo Rodríguez; the president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, and by directors and authorities of both administrations, traveling, for the first time, through the Erjos tunnel, whose traffic is expected to attract more than 17,000 vehicles per day in the year of commissioning.
This project, whose investment currently amounts to 256 million euros, has already executed 56% of its initial budget, paying a total of 144,951,731 euros until September 2023.
Work began in November 2019 and is expected to be completed by March 2025.
Fernando Clavijo has highlighted the importance of this connection for the island of Tenerife.
“We awarded this work in 2019, Pablo Rodríguez being Minister of Public Works, and it will provide Tenerife residents with infrastructure, which includes the longest double tunnel in the Canary Islands, which will help alleviate current traffic problems and thus improve the situation. socioeconomic and environmental of the island,” he noted.
For his part, Pablo Rodríguez has highlighted that this route will allow “both corridors to be closed”, thus giving continuity to the actions already carried out previously.
With this, it is possible to connect the island routes TF-1 and TF-5, to the west, at the same time replacing the TF-82 in that section, which represents “a substantial improvement in safety and reduces the time of the route in half with fluid traffic”, he pointed out.
The president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, has highlighted the enormous technical complexity of the work, in addition to the work in three shifts of more than 100 people in the execution of the project.
“It is essential for the closure of the Island Ring to the west, which links TF-1 with TF-5, and will be very important for the transfer of mobility on the island from a part of the north to the south,” he said. underlined.
In his opinion, “the implementation of this project will represent a fundamental engine of growth by facilitating the transfers of goods and services with this part of the island and will mean a before and after, as it is one of the most relevant works of the history of the Canary Islands”.
The Erjos tunnel consists of two parallel tubes with a length of 5,095 meters each, of which 4,855 meters correspond to a mine tunnel, 140 to a false tunnel in the south mouth and 100 to a false tunnel in the north mouth. To date, a distance of 1,780.16 meters of the Erjos tunnel has been excavated in the Santiago del Teide direction and 1,315.09 meters in the El Tanque direction.
The Minister of Public Works added that the work generates 102 direct jobs and 204 indirect jobs, in three work shifts per day, seven days a week.
“We are facing one of the most important road infrastructures at a regional and national level, since it is the longest tunnel in the Canary Islands, and one of the largest projects currently being developed by the Executive,” he commented.
18 MILLION EUROS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES
In this project, environmental measures have been adopted for an amount of 18 million euros to guarantee sustainability and respect for the environment, according to a note from the Executive.
In this sense, the abandoned quarries of La Grama and the Bilma mountain, in the vicinity of Santiago del Teide, have been restored, as well as the manufacture of concrete, asphalt and the formation of esplanades with the leftover material from the tunnel drilling.
Another of the planned points is the construction of an edge park that isolates the center of Santiago del Teide from the effects of the new highway.
In addition, measures such as the restoration of habitats of community interest are also contemplated, or the change in the structure that saves the Barranco Hondo to protect the habitats of community interest in the area, all this taking into account that the tunnel itself can be understood as a great environmental measure by allowing the Teno massif to be saved without causing harm.
