Tenerife Ring Road

[Richardf]

I am about to go on holiday on the island and through some web research have recently come across references to the 'Tenerife Ring Road', apparently a roads project to create a high quality road around the whole island. Did a search on Google and found out bits and pieces on it but not very much and not particularly up to date. Neither can i find any plans or maps with the route on it. i was wondering if anyone who had been to the island recently knows more about it and what sort of progress they are making with it.

Alternatively are there any websites with more info on the project. Failing that i will have to wait and see for myself....

Thanks

[J N Winkler]

It is an Eje Transinsular. More information (including maps) here:

http://www.gobcan.es/citv/dgt/eje/index.html

[Richardf]

Sorry to bump an old thread. This project has come back to my attention recently. Was wondering what the current/latest situation was with this road. I know it has been massively delayed due to spanish financial woes, but i did google it last night and found a projected completion date of 2014/15. Dont know how up to date this info is though.

I was wondering if anyone had been to the island recently and seen any signe of progress. For example is any part of it open to traffic yet?

[andrew_duffy]

The ring road consists of TF-1 and TF-5 with TF-2 cutting the corner in Santa Cruz.

Google maps shows how much is already upgraded to motorway: http://goo.gl/maps/3i2r2

I'm just back, and drove the section of TF-1 between TFS airport and the temporary terminus at Adeje a few times. The standard is pretty good - at least D2 throughout, good signage, very tight junctions but with C/D lanes to make up for it. There seems to be parallel local access roads for most of the length; these use the same roundabouts as the motorway junctions which makes navigation a bit tricky.

[Richardf]

Thanks. The TF1 and TF5 I do know of as they have been there a good few years. I was really meaning the missing section between the ends of each of these that has been under construction in recent years. If you look carefully on Google earth you can follow most of the route. These images are I think a few years old. I was wondering what the latest was on the new bits.

[andrew_duffy]

Ah. There's certainly no construction activity at the Adeje end and given Spain's economy I presume it has shut down. Hoping to be back in January and to do more exploration, so if I spot anything I'll post.

[brummie_rob]

Last time I was there a couple of years ago the terminus was still where it is now. Infact back in 2003 it used the same terminus pretty much as it does now...remember seeing it all them years thinking it must have changed by now...and it hadn't apart from a larger roundabout. It used to be quite an abrupt end.

What had changed since 2003 was that you could clearly see construction taking place along the route. Infact in 2010 there was what appeared to be a tunnel being built by Los Gigantes. I wasn't aware at that point of the plans for the road to snake round the island. The logistics of this section are interesting because the landscape is so hilly. The old road snakes around and makes journey times quite lengthy.

Certainly be interesting to see it complete but also end the compulsory use of a quite scenic road.

[SarahJ]

I'll be there on Sunday and will be having a look in my hire car.

For a bit of history.

TF5 was the first bit open, it was there when I first went in 1977. It was mainly D2. Slowly widened from santa cruz to los rodeos. Then NB tunnel out of santa cruz was built. Used to end at puerto, but has slowly been extended to Icod and beyond there improved to a decent S2
TF1 was built once the new airport opened, but for the first few years it was D2 from Santa Cruz, then just after the tunnels it was S2 all the way to the south airport. The link road that joins the two in santa cruz (tf7?)is more recent, but TBH I tend to avoid it, its slow, twisty, has speed cameras and a poor junction/turn off from the TF1.

[SarahJ]

Well I had a little drive along to see what was what. Once you pass Adeje you are diverted off the new road, onto the old one, which has seen some recent improvements. On the new road, no work was seen in progress. Some parts are complete, including road markings, other parts are just a mess of rubble. Parts that are complete look like D2, but some bridges seem to be just S2. As the weather turned bad I never made it past Chico. The hire car 'A Citroen C4' had very poor traction in the wet and as the road got twistier I dedided not to risk it.

[Nicholas]

TF-1 ends at a logical point on the west coast of the island. Adeje is the municpal centre (i.e. what Chester is to Cheshire) and one of the largest non-resort towns on the island.

In addition, the last junction on the motorway is where the TF-47 heads down to the coast to Callao Salaje, which is the most northerly of the resorts on the south-west coastline.

I remember this, as Callao Salvaje was the resort I stayed at on my only holiday to the island, and parts of the motorway were being built at the time. The resort had two bus services, the main coastal route serving Adeje en route to the main resorts and the local resort route which missed out Adeje. The two routes were handy as I got to see different parts of the road being built.

[brummie_rob]

Thanks for the update. I guess the road won't be completed any time soon then. Be interesting the day it is!

[Richardf]

Been looking into this again. From what I can make out, most of it is open or nearly open, parts are even viewable on Street View now. Just appears to be one section in the northwest corner that doesn't even appear to have been started and I can't find out much about it. Looks like it's going to be a difficult section to do because of the terrain, but probably nesesary.

Interesting that a lot of it has been built as S2+1 rather than D2 as originally planned. Cost cutting measure no doubt but maybe a short sighted one if it's not been future proofed for upgrade to D2 at some point.

[autismuk]

Probably funded with EU money (aka "bribe"). Went to Madeira last year and a taxi driver told us about the funding for their "motorway" VR1 which is very impressive but not paid for by the Madeirans..

[Richardf]

I think they have had lots of money/funding issues with the road. It's taken a good many years to complete it. Construction was well under way the last time I was on the island nearly 7 years ago!. Have followed progress of the work on and off during that time.

[B6047]

I was in North -West Tenerife at the end of 2015. The western section up to Santiago Del Teide was only just completed and fairly empty. The northern section (the bypass of Icod )was already completed leaving the difficult missing section past Santiago on a plateau at the base of Teide. The road isn't too bad here when I went but I can imagine there would be a lot of traffic diverting to this route from the south if it is ever completed.

[SarahJ]

I back out there is just over a weeks time, so will get to drive the bits I missed last time.

[Richardf]

Anyone think it will ever be complete? They have left the hardest part until last, and no sign of work even starting on it! I can't even work out where it will go.

Leaving the last bit undone would be a shame after all the work done and money spent on the rest. The existing road between the finished bits is probably the worst section of old road on the ring road route.

[SarahJ]

Some discussion also on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=32843

[Berk]

I must say, the roads on Tenerife seem to be a little bit better and straighter than those on Gran Canaria!! I’ve not been to Tenerife yet, but it seems the main pattern of the road network on both islands is basically the same.

You’ve got an incomplete motorway/expressway ring of both islands. On the west coast of GC, the gap is linked by the GC-200, but that is quite a sinuous road (and has been affected by subsidence in some places). In Tenerife, that place would be appear to be taken by the (much shorter) TF-82.

It’s also interesting that GC’s motorway network seems to have been finished a bit sooner than in Tenerife. I believe it was practically complete by 2003, with some bits remaining until 2013/14.

They are both amazing islands to drive on. I would recommend them, to anybody. By all means visit the beaches and clubs in GC, but do take a day or two to drive north, into the mountains, and visit the pretty, and historic villages there. A visit not to be missed.

[Richardf]

I must say, the roads on Tenerife seem to be a little bit better and straighter than those on Gran Canaria!! I’ve not been to Tenerife yet, but it seems the main pattern of the road network on both islands is basically the same.

You’ve got an incomplete motorway/expressway ring of both islands. On the west coast of GC, the gap is linked by the GC-200, but that is quite a sinuous road (and has been affected by subsidence in some places). In Tenerife, that place would be appear to be taken by the (much shorter) TF-82.

It’s also interesting that GC’s motorway network seems to have been finished a bit sooner than in Tenerife. I believe it was practically complete by 2003, with some bits remaining until 2013/14.

They are both amazing islands to drive on. I would recommend them, to anybody. By all means visit the beaches and clubs in GC, but do take a day or two to drive north, into the mountains, and visit the pretty, and historic villages there. A visit not to be missed.

Been to both a few times. I too prefer the inland scenery to the tourist resorts on the coasts.