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THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
FRIDAY 11th NOVEMBER TO THURSDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2016 TV GUIDE
PAGES 25 -32
MOVIES AT ...
EDITION 563 FORTNIGHTLY SUPPLEMENT F
property p
PAGES 49 -56
guide
STORMS LEAD TO LOS RODEOS ANGER
Stop this motorway madness! H
EAVY rain in parts of Tenerife over the weekend caused further damage on top of the downpour just a few days earlier.
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RAFFIC congestion on Tenerife’s two motorways appears to be the next big problem facing the island and furious business leaders are demanding action. They say the constant gridlock on both the TF-1 in the south and the north’s TF-5 is totally unacceptable and is presenting a very bad image for holidaymakers. President of Ashotel, the leading hotel employers’ association, Jorge Marichal says some tourists are having to leave for the airport as much as four hours before their flights because of potential traffic jams. He says the government has to “immediately end the blockade on road infrastructure projects suffered on Tenerife” and allow the Cabildo to start improvements with its own money and then claim it back. He has already had a meeting with President of Tenerife Cabildo, Carlos Alonso, and the insular director of Development, Miguel Becerra to discuss what Ashotel describes as the “situation of inaction and the damaging collapse of traffic experienced by the TF-1 and
TF-5 motorway.” “In the case of the TF-1, many tourists have to leave their hotels four hours in advance to get to the airport, because the daily queues often do not guarantee them to be on time for their flight, “ says Sr. Marichal. “This collapse also affects workers in the sector and other economic sectors, suppliers and services, as well as the general public.” A meeting has also taken place with the Minister of Public Works of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ornella Chacon, and the general director of Infrastructure, José Luis Delgado, who explained the projects planned for the TF-5 and TF-1 motorway. Afterwards, Carlos Alonso said the Cabildo was willing and able to finance urgent works which were the responsibility of the autonomous community in order to reduce queues at rush hour in some sections of both
motorways but this didn’t appear to be acceptable to the higher authority. Ashotel believes this is the way forward and says it has been done before. It has therefore requested more information from the Canary Government. They say the Las Chafiras section should be one of the priorities, together with the completion of the insular ring road and an underground diversion north to south from Los Rodeos to alleviate the impact on the TF-5. Other suggestions include a third lane on the TF-5, con-
tinued to the TF-1 San Isidro to Adeje and priority for high occupancy vehicles on the north motorway. There should also be a link between Los Cristianos and the south hospital.
Official weather warnings were issued by AEMET, the state meteorological agency, though in the worst-hit districts including Orotava valley and La Laguna, there was criticism on the social network sites that the alert had not come early enough. Some classes in La Orotava had to be cancelled on Monday morning because of damage caused by the torrents and the facade of an abandoned house in Santa Cruz had to be demolished for safety reasons. Questions are also being asked about the state of Tenerife’s north airport where leaks occurred in both the main arrivals hall and the baggage department. Politicians with the PSOE say they are seeking an urgent
meeting, claiming passenger safety was jeopardised and the situation at Los Rodeos gave a very unfortunate image for those arriving in Tenerife. PSOE senator for the Canaries, Julio Cruz said: “Every time it rains heavily, Los Rodeos airport shows the same picture but so far nothing has been done to avoid it.” On Saturday afternoon, the airport recorded 49.2 litres of rain per square metre. In Laguna and La Orotava, several roads had to be closed, traffic lights failed and there were power cuts. During six hours of the storm, experts recorded nearly 900 lightning bolts in Tenerife.