Tenerife Advances €123M Highway Expansion Towards Island Ring Road Completion
The Canary Islands Government is investing over 123 million euros to expand a 14km section of Tenerife's TF-1 motorway between Erques and Santiago del Teide, a five-year project crucial for completing the island's Ring Road and currently open for public comment.
Tenerife's southwest is getting closer to having a continuous highway that will eventually circle the entire island. A key part of this is the expansion of the TF-1 motorway between Erques and Santiago del Teide. This section, just over 14 kilometers long, is a much-needed road improvement for the area. It will cost more than 123 million euros and will upgrade this stretch to a full highway, bringing the Island Ring Road closer to completion.
The Canary Islands Government is behind this project. It has already received technical approval and is now open for public comment for 30 days, during which people can submit any objections.
The work will take place between the exit of the Erques 'false tunnel' and the entrance to the Bicho tunnel. The main goal is to double the size of the current road to handle more traffic and make journeys smoother in the region.
The new road will feature five lanes: three heading towards Santiago del Teide and two towards Adeje. It's designed for speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. The road will be widened by extending it towards the sea.
This project will impact existing slip roads (for entering and exiting the highway), agricultural and local roads, as well as various structures and drainage systems. These will all need to be expanded or adjusted.
Plans also include updating viaducts and underpasses, installing new drainage systems (both across and along the road), building new road surfaces, and putting in safety barriers. To minimize impact, the work will also include landscaping and environmental restoration.
The project documents detail the land that needs to be acquired, which will be limited. Because this is a regionally important road that's part of the wider motorway network, the land acquisition boundaries are set at eight meters from the edge of the main road's earthworks, ramps, and drainage areas.
Land for the already finished Adeje–Santiago del Teide section is considered to have been acquired previously. Therefore, new land purchases will only happen where the new road layout goes beyond the current one. Publicly owned land, such as plots belonging to the municipalities of Guía de Isora and Santiago del Teide, are not part of these acquisitions.
In addition, eight plots of land have been identified for temporary use. These will be used for temporary facilities, storage, and access to viaduct foundations, and no buildings will be affected. These temporary occupations will last for periods starting from 12 months. The entire construction project is expected to take five years (60 months).
Traffic studies, looking ahead to 2048, have been included in the project. These studies analyze the expected increase in traffic once the Island Ring Road is complete and consider forecasts from the Tenerife Island Council. The analysis confirms the need to expand this road section to handle medium and long-term traffic growth. This is particularly important given the planned opening of the Erjos tunnel in 2027, a crucial piece of infrastructure that will connect the island from one end to the other via highway.