Easter congestion in Los Cristianos – As Easter approaches, the Holy Week announces itself to the Canarians as the annual period when they massively relocate. Everyone heads somewhere during this week, leading to the dreaded traffic jams and clogged roads due to the funnel effect towards ports, tourist regions, and airports, a recurring mobility issue every year.
Over 50,000 passengers are expected to use the port of Los Cristianos between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday to travel to and from a sister island for their Easter getaway.
Traffic Peak
The southern port facility thus faces one of the highest traffic peaks of the year. The number of trips over the extended Easter weekend – Easter Monday is a regular working day – amounts to 27,000 people and 7,000 vehicles for a single crossing. That’s over 50,000 passengers and nearly 15,000 vehicles using the port facilities in Los Cristianos.
La Gomera is Popular
The port of Los Cristianos is gearing up to withstand one of the year’s highest traffic peaks, as over 50,000 passengers and nearly 15,000 vehicles will squeeze through Arona’s borough during the Holy Week – from Thursday to Sunday. Among the three western sister islands, La Gomera is the primary destination. La Palma and El Hierro remain popular destinations but are further away.
Five ferries will provide connections between Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, and El Hierro during Easter week: the Benchijigua Express and Bencomo Express by Fred. Olsen, and the Volcán de Teno, Volcán de Taburiente, and Volcán de Tirajana by Naviera Armas.
Special Operation
Both the Port Authority and the Municipality of Arona will implement a special operation to manage the Easter congestion in Los Cristianos and prevent traffic jams. To this end, the presence of officers from the Port Police within the facilities and the Local Police outside will be reinforced, charged with directing traffic at the roundabout at the port exit and in the parking area of La Habana Avenue and Espigón Street.
The island institutions and the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife have recognized for years that the facilities offered by the port of Los Cristianos are not the best and highlight the increasing pressure on the port infrastructure due to a notable increase in travel in recent decades.
Working Group
The regional Minister of Public Works, Housing, and Mobility, Pablo Rodríguez, announced last Wednesday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands the creation of a working group to analyze proposals and seek alternatives to improve connectivity from the port of Los Cristianos. This historic problem has been an obstacle to connectivity with the green islands for decades.
The island government, the Cabildo de Tenerife, announced two strategic actions to improve mobility in the area. On the one hand, an investment of 90 million euros to tunnel the Avenida de Chayofita, and on the other, the construction of a transport hub and improvement of the TF-655 road leading to Los Cristianos.
Fred Olsen © Photography
Easter congestion in Los Cristianos ©
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