Tenerife Faces €123 Million Hurdle to Complete Island Ring Road Section
The Tenerife regional government is seeking 123 million euros to fund a critical five-kilometer extension of the Island Ring, aiming to alleviate projected traffic congestion between Icod de los Vinos and La Guancha.
Completing the Tenerife Island Ring is proving to be a major financial and technical hurdle, extending well beyond the challenges of the upcoming Tigaiga tunnel. According to the newspaper El Día, the regional government has outlined a plan requiring 123 million euros to connect Icod de los Vinos with La Guancha. Officials view this as a vital step before tackling the massive 600-million-euro engineering project that will eventually link La Guancha to Los Realejos.
The Vice-Ministry of Infrastructure is treating this intermediate section as a race against time. Vice-Minister Francis González aims to secure funding before the next road agreement with the State is signed. The goal is to prevent gridlock, as traffic is expected to surge once the sector toward El Tanque opens. Projections suggest the road will see over 44,000 vehicles daily by 2035, potentially rising to 71,265 by 2045 if current growth trends continue.
The updated design replaces a previous proposal that would have included an open-air exit in San Juan de la Rambla. The new plan features a five-kilometer stretch of the TF-5 highway with two lanes in each direction and a speed limit of 80 km/h. Because the route crosses sensitive, rugged terrain, it will include a twin-tube tunnel at Las Cucharas—between 500 and 1,000 meters long—to bypass the towns of Buen Paso, Santa Catalina, and Las Crucitas.
Construction is expected to take 22 months and faces significant geological obstacles. The volcanic soil, specifically the scoriaceous trachytes found in Montaña Abejera, poses risks such as unstable excavation sites and potential tunnel collapses. Additionally, the project requires 3.8 million euros for land expropriations.
The plan also includes two key junctions: an elevated roundabout in La Guancha and a trumpet-shaped interchange in Buen Paso to improve access to the Isla Baja and the rest of the Island Ring. Ultimately, the project aims to balance the urgent need for better traffic flow in the north with the protection of the island’s valuable landscapes—a delicate task that remains the government's primary administrative and budgetary challenge.