Ground movements began in October 2010 and it was promised that the works would be completed by the end of March 2011. However, nine months after that deadline expired, the section of road between Tiagua and Tinajo remains closed to traffic. Now, from the Cabildo they assure that next Tuesday, "for sure", vehicles will be able to circulate on this road, whose improvement works do not convince many residents of Tinajo and not even the mayor of the municipality himself. "We are going to open it and we will continue to demand things," says Jesús Machín.
"I don't like how they are leaving it, because the asphalt is very soft. This floor here, which has been here for years, is much firmer", says a neighbor, in the heart of the town. "The road is not well made, like the one in Tahíche. You compare the road with those of other islands and it has nothing to do with it. The finish of the floor when they opened it for Los Dolores was not smooth, so let's see now that they are doing it again, because I don't trust anything, but we will have to wait for them to open it," say two others.
Precisely, the resurfacing works began this Monday and, according to the Councilor for Public Works of the Cabildo, Sergio Machín, they are expected to be completed "this Friday or Saturday". Thus, only the signaling of the road would be pending. "You can't paint the newly paved road, because then it absorbs the paint, but we think that on Monday or Tuesday it will be open to the public. On the 20th, for sure, it will be", assures Machín.
However, not even the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, is satisfied with the finish of the improvement works on this road. Although he recognizes that it has improved in many aspects, there are others with which he remains "unhappy".
No direct access
In this sense, the mayor of Tinajo demands that the Cabildo put an item in the next budgets to build two roundabouts and a service lane that, in his opinion, are needed. And it is that, some residents and companies "have been left without direct access" to their corresponding farms and companies "when they come from Arrecife". One of these companies, the Hormigones Orinoco block factory, even conveyed to Jesús Machín the intention to report this fact to the Justice, although both the City Council and the Cabildo do not know if it was finally done. La Voz has tried to contact those responsible for the company but, until the closing of this edition, it is unknown if that complaint was actually filed.
"They had access before and they have it now. What happens is that before there was a dotted line and they could turn left but now, when the number of vehicles increases, the law says that when it exceeds 3,000 vehicles per day, left turns are prohibited. Then they have to go to the roundabout that is 300 meters away. Of course they are inconveniences, but we don't make the laws and they have to be complied with. What happens is that, due to the dimensions of the island, we are used to distances seeming greater to us than to anyone who comes from outside," says the Councilor for Public Works of the Cabildo, Sergio Machín, in this regard.
This problem, according to the mayor of Tinajo, would be solved with those two roundabouts and the service lane. One of the roundabouts would be located, according to Jesús Machín, at the intersection of the farm and the other at the gas station. Between them, a service lane would be needed. "With that, and with the paving of the entrances to the farms, we would be happy. And also in the future the stone cladding of the jable slopes that are there", says the mayor.
In fact, the issue of the jable slopes was the reason for Jesús Machín's threat in February of this year. The mayor then assured that jable slopes were being left that in some cases exceeded two meters and asked the Cabildo for a solution or, otherwise, he would throw "the people into the street". The Cabildo then promised to correct the deficiencies although, according to Machín, "that remains the same, because there is no money". "We are going to accept opening the road like this, but we will continue to insist."
"We would like all the works to have enough money to be able to undertake everything, but those works had a purpose, which was the resurfacing and removing a change of slope and nothing else. Not to make alternative routes or anything, which would be desirable, and when there is money it will be taken into account," replies the Councilor of the Cabildo, Sergio Machín.
"The example I give is the following. It's as if I'm a bricklayer and you want me to go to your house to fix your kitchen and when I finish you tell me, since you're here, do my bathroom, the hall? It's true that it's necessary to undertake that service road, but that's not only in Tinajo, but in lots of places in Lanzarote that need access improvements. But of course, it will be done when there is money. Now it's not time for that," he adds.
Even so, for his part, the mayor of Tinajo recognizes that with the improvements made, with the expansion of the lanes and shoulders, as well as the elimination of the changes of slope, "one of the black spots of the island" has been eliminated. "I think it should be safer now. I do recognize that being straighter invites you to go faster, but you have to be respectful of the rules and traffic codes and the signs that are there. If this road had been made 20 years earlier, some of the people, and especially young people who have died, would surely be here," says the mayor of Tinajo.
Slowness in the works
The ground movements of the Tinajo road began in October 2011, although, six months earlier, in April, the then Councilor for Public Works, Fabián Martín, already announced the start of the works. The works belong to the I Road Plan that, started in 2005, ends with these actions.
The work was awarded for a total of 1,890,000 euros, but the introduction of a supplementary one increased that figure to 2.5 million euros, according to the Ministry of Public Works.
The works on the road were scheduled to be completed at the end of last March, but its opening has been delayed over time and the only time that vehicles have circulated on it, since the works began, was for the Los Dolores festivities, when it was opened to traffic, despite not being finished. The rest of the time, vehicles have been circulating on the parallel road.
According to Sergio Machín, the delays in the works are due to the fact that a supplementary one had to be included in the project. "There was a change of slope in the vicinity of the factory that is there in Tinajo and it was removed. And of course, when a modification is made, it takes longer in the paperwork than in anything else. And all that delays the works," he points out.
However, from the City Council of Tinajo, the mayor affirms that if the work has not been finished before it is because "a project adapted to the requests of the City Council has not been made". "I have also found the project, but the logical thing before starting any type of work is that the city councils have knowledge and then make their allegations. It is logical that a mayor is claiming as his neighbors are telling him, but things cannot be changed every day, because then the works are paralyzed. And it is not easy. Things have to be raised before starting the work," replies the Councilor for Public Works, Sergio Machín.
The residents themselves also highlight the slowness of the works. "It should have been opened to traffic a long time ago. I don't know who is responsible but, whoever it is, the City Council or the Cabildo, they have to be given a slap on the wrist. You see, in Dolores they opened it and then they said that there was little left. We are in December and it is still not open", says a resident in the municipality. "The work has been slow, like everything in Lanzarote. Tell me one work that has been fast or that is finished, because that is another thing. You go to Las Palmas or another place and things are not like that. When a date is set it is for something," criticizes another man, a resident of the municipality.
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["If I had known, I wouldn't have let them move a stone without paying me"->63316]
