Mogán and the Government of the Canary Islands discuss Pueblo de Mogán bypass and the planned Taurito tunnel

Minister of Public Works, Transportation and Housing for the Canary Islands Government, Sebastián Franquis, held a meeting on Friday with the serving mayor of Mogán, Onalia Bueno at which the mayor of La Aldea de San Nicolás, Tomás Pérez, also participated. The gathering was to discuss a bypass necessary for Pueblo de Mogán as well as possible alternatives in the long running project to the complete the “Insular Ring” and guarantee greater safety in travelling around the entire coastline areas of the island. Included in these discussions were the proposed coastal GC-500 tunnel project that is to reconnect Playa de Mogán with Taurito, closed due to landslides back in the summer of 2017.

Challenges to be faced in the larger project, ongoing for several years now, include the narrowness of the GC-200 road as it passes through the old Pueblo de Mogán and its continued use by large vehicles that can cause occasional damage to shops and houses of architectural, heritage and ethnographic value in the area.

Franquis explained that the administrative procedures have already begun with the presentation of alternatives and an environmental assessment. Once these are analysed, the drafting of the project and subsequent work is to be considered as a priority feature of the road agreement established between the Canarian Government and the Spanish State. Their intention is to limit road traffic through the historic town of Mogán that aspires one day soon to become a pedestrian shopping area.

Mogán tunnel project

At this important meeting the mayor and the minister also referred to the status of the long awaited tunnel project that will reconnect Playa de Mogán with Taurito, for which the environmental evaluation and archaeological study have already been carried out, necessary, among other reasons, due to the project’s proximity to the The Archaeological Area of Cañada de Los Gatos,  (declared a Site of Cultural Interest for its scientific relevance). The project is expected to be ready to move on to the next planning stage during the first half of this year.

This tunnel will reconnect these two points of the municipality, because  since the closure in 2017 of the GC-500 road by the Island Council due to the danger of landslides, access to Taurito can only be done by the GC-1 highway towards Las Palmas – Mogan.

Alternatives to the closure of the Insular Ring

Together with the mayor of La Aldea de San Nicolás, Tomás Pérez, the meeting also discussed the various alternatives to the eventual completion of what is known as the “Insular Ring”. The Cabildo de Gran Canaria proposal includes widening of the existing GC-200 road between Pueblo de Mogán and La Aldea along some sections, the competing proposal from the Regional Canarian Government is more ambitious, proposing instead several mountain tunnels more directly connecting the two points.