Also distributed in Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
1.50€ at newsagents.
THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
FRIDAY 2nd JUNE TO THURSDAY 15tH JUNE 2017 TV GUIDE
PAGES 25 -32
MOVIES AT ...
EDITION 577 FORTNIGHTLY SUPPLEMENT F
property p
PAGES 49 -56
guide
ARONA LEADS FIGHT AGAINST SOUTH’S “UNBEARABLE” TRAFFIC JAMS Infrastructure still in 20th century, say council leaders
Arona council is leading the way in urgent calls to stop horrendous traffic jams in the south of Tenerife and “the collapse of the road system”
T
HE plea is being made to both Tenerife Cabildo and the Canary Government, with local officials labelling the present structure as “still in the 20th century”. They say it is “high time” the other authorities realised that Arona and the south of the island were the main engines of the island’s economy and deserved better treatment. Arona is calling for road improvements, the finalisation of some projects still in the pipeline and attention to the TF-1 motorway with the provision of three lanes throughout. They say the current traffic hold-ups are “hardly bearable” and the roads themselves are in a poor condition. All political parties supported the call for immediate action to solve the problems. “It is high time that both the Government and the Cabildo realise that Arona and the southern region are the economic engine of the island and that they need decent roads such as the one the Ayuntamiento de Arona will
start to asphalt throughout the municipality in the coming weeks, “ said the Mayor, José Julián Mena. The motion recalls that Arona is the third municipality in population of the island, with 93,496 residents (May 2017), more than 1.5 million tourists last year and a daily average floating population of 225,000 people. “The southern region, in general, and Arona, in particular, have entered the 21st century with infrastructures typical of the 20th century, despite their contribution to the island’s wealth generation and the autonomous community,” it states. “A problem that ever y day thousands and thousands of people who live in the southern region or come to work suffer. A change of model of mobility is necessary where all the administrations, social agents
and citizens back mobility, with greater weight of the public transportation and more efficiency in the use of infrastructures.” On a daily basis, the southern motorway (TF-1), passing through Los Cristianos, has an average annual intensity of 79,975 vehicles per day, which represents an increase of 5,000 in just one year. In addition, the TF653, parallel to the TF-1 and linking Guaza with Los Cristianos, which many use as an alternative to avoid jams on the highway, has gone from a daily average of 11,000 vehicles to 26,600 more, which “adds to its poor state of conservation”. The document also calls for a study on mobility, the extension of the southern motorway, TF-1, and adherence to this agreement by business and social associations and the rest of municipalities of the southern region. The motion urges both the
island corporation and the regional government to act, within the framework of their
respective competencies and as quickly as possible, in the face of the continuous traffic
jams suffered by users of the main communication routes of the municipality.