Ecologistas en Acción Lanzarote has denounced the new increase in roads on the island and acknowledges that the Cabildo de Lanzarote "does not have the capacity to manage a plan for active, free, and efficient mobility, taking into account the climate transformation the planet is experiencing".
The Cabildo of Lanzarote, the Tías City Council, and the Government of the Canary Islands intend to dual the LZ-40 road, which runs from César Manrique Airport to the upper part of Puerto del Carmen, "going against common sense and increasing dependence on private vehicles".
The confederation assures that it is "an expansion that does not solve mobility demands, on the contrary, it exacerbates them". "With an expedited procedure, these three administrations intend to undertake the work, which represents a serious strategic error by compromising the possibilities of reversing the mobility problem and not responding to the real needs of citizens, falsely claiming it is a historic demand when it is only for political gain. Lanzarote has had double the average road per inhabitant since the 80s, and we also take into account that several studies show there are too many cars," they continue.
"The duplication of the LZ-40 poses a problem, a million-dollar investment that does not alleviate the climate warming that we will have to endure. They use the flimsy excuse of solving occasional traffic jams that are noticed during a specific time slot and only a few days a week. The project itself acknowledges that there are not enough studies to analyze the real causes of traffic, nor to evaluate more efficient alternatives," they state.
In this regard, they argue that "before spending public resources and occupying more land, the environmental group **believes that an essential integrated mobility study is not being chosen, one that contemplates efficient and free public transport**; that considers alternatives to critical traffic points, that evaluates the landscape and social impact, and that provides real solutions for the southern entrance to the airport. Without this analysis, any road expansion is improvised, ineffective, and contrary to the general interest, as more roads mean increasing traffic, increasing polluting emissions, noise, speed, accidents, land consumption, and loss of landscape."
Ecologistas en Acción Lanzarote denounces that “this project contradicts the emission reduction objectives set by the Canary Islands Climate Change Law and the sustainable mobility strategies approved by the Cabildo itself, which has hijacked the Biosphere Council, nullifying its usefulness as a debate tool that places the island at the center of its decisions”. Unnecessary new roads destroy the cultural and agricultural landscape, reduce environmental quality, and increase sound and visual disturbance in residential, school, and health areas. “The land and the landscape are our greatest heritage, and destroying it with new roads to save a few minutes of travel is a botch job that we will pay for for generations”.
They highlight that the project, furthermore, "does not even evaluate the effect on biodiversity and destroys part of a royal road".
Ecologista en Acción Lanzarote argues that "the most sensible option is to opt for 'Alterna va 0', which means not carrying out the work, the only coherent option with the model of a sustainable island that we want and need. Lanzarote does not need more roads, but rather public transport, bike lanes, pedestrian spaces, and mobility designed for the island and its people, not for cars."
"For environmental responsibility, for cultural identity, for the common good, and because Lanzarote deserves intelligent solutions: no more asphalt," they conclude