Over the past four years, the urban landscape of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has expanded by fifteen streets, bringing the total number of streets in 2020 from 2,589 to the current 2,604. These new roads cover a distance of 821,563 linear meters, comprising various types of roads like streets, avenues, alleys, roundabouts, and squares. This growth reflects the continuous development of new urban areas in the capital, predominantly due to limited available land for construction.
To explore the city’s map in detail, the local government provides a virtual tool that allows users to visually navigate the streets from an aerial perspective. This viewer is accessible on the council’s official website and offers a comprehensive overview of the diverse urban roads categorized across the city’s five districts.
In the past, manual counting was used to determine the total number of tunnels, entrances, avenues, streams, paths, communities, highways, bridges, and even staircases that contribute to the extensive urban network. Today, modern digital tools have streamlined this process, providing accurate data on the city’s infrastructure.
Interestingly, Santa Cruz de Tenerife boasts 1,886 streets, 68 communities, 67 roads, 64 boulevards, 60 routes, 59 passages, 57 squares, 44 avenues, 37 trails, 31 pathways, 15 roundabouts, 8 small plazas, 6 tunnels, and 5 boulevards, among other road classifications.
Each street in the municipality is assigned a specific or common name for identification and registry purposes. But who decides the names for the city’s streets?
Manuel Eizaguirre, the technical architect from the Population and Territorial Demarcation Bureau of the Santa Cruz City Council, explains the naming process. Streets are either named in honor of distinguished individuals associated with the capital, approved by the municipal council, or designated based on local characteristics and negotiations within the community.
Notably, street names often reflect themes like nature or outer space, with only one or two new names being introduced every two years, as clarified by the technician.
