It was announced yesterday that in order to avoid the continued long delays and inconvenience to drivers during the busiest hours at the end of the working day, resurfacing work of the GC-1 between Arguineguín and Pasito Blanco will now finish at 5:00 p.m.
The vice president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and public works councilor, Mr Ángel Víctor Torres, has explained that the highway will now be operational at those times, given that between 16:00 and 19:00 traffic is much heavier than usual. Torres has said that during the rest of the day the works are to be carried out without any alterations to the planned traffic arrangements.
The counselor explained that the initial work plan had been to start the work at 9:00 am each morning and continue until 7:00 pm; aiming to finish by this coming Thursday, so now the change of schedule will prolong the works until Friday.
Local residents and regular users of the road between Pasito Blanco and Arguineguín will undoubtedly be relieved after heavy traffic jams were seen all last week along the coastal GC500 road travelling towards Arguineguín, then followed by heavy congestion when the direction of work reversed, to the northbound carriage way travelling towards Maspalomas.
Monday afternoon saw tailbacks stretching all the way from Arguineguín to Puerto Rico with no possible alternatives available for motorists, some of whom reported waiting in traffic for up to an hour and a half just to reach Arguineguín, never mind the stretch of road between there and Pasito Blanco.
Faced with criticism from the Mogán local authorities about the daytime work, Ángel Víctor took the opportunity to remind them that the work plan had been well known to the government of Mogán for several weeks.
Some councillors within the Mogán town hall have even admitted that the town council had been given a choice as to whether the work should happen this year, during the day time, or next year during night time, based on budgetary constraints for the current year, so having the option to avoid having to pay higher night time wages; it is said that the current governing group in Mogán chose to get the work done sooner and cheaper.
Mogán Councilor for Security, Mencey Navarro, has in turn tried to suggest however that it was citizen pressure that made the people in charge of the Cabildo rethink these decisions, inferring that all responsibility lies at the Cabildo’s door. It appears that the blame game has started between the various political parties as they each try to suggest it was the others who failed to calculate the misery that would be caused by closing the main arterial route during the working day.
The Cabildo of course is the main island government for Gran Canaria, reporting to the regional government of the Canary Islands, and it is made up of the mayors and councillors of each of Gran Canarias 21 municipalities. Remember, local elections are coming next year, if you want to have your say about who makes the decisions for your local area, you need to be registered to vote before the end of this year at your local town hall. All European citizens, including those from the UK, have the right to vote, or even stand, in their local elections.
