Lanzarote: el papel de la crisis - Fundación César Manrique

3 Informative study
Órzola-Arrecife-Playa Blanca. Phase
C.U.T.E.; Consultoría y Gestión E.E.
and SERCAL, S.A.. Directorate
General of Public Works of the
Canary Island Government.
Las Palmas, 1996.
At the same time, in the Informative Study3 , the entire route’s “suitableness as an
expressway”, from Playa Blanca right up to Órzola, is categorically stated. Obviously, this
proposal is totally indefensible for anyone with a minimum of technical decorum, above all
with regard to the northernmost section, as Órzola is a town of a few hundred inhabitants,
with only the island of La Graciosa to the north, inhabited by a handful of families and
legally protected from urban exploitation. However, when the time came, the appropriate
autonomous authority gave its approval to the Informative Study and the study’s conclusions
are being used in official circles to justify the proposals for action along the entire corridor.
Within the scope of this route, the Guatiza Bypass, which symbolises the commencement of
a new cycle of roadworks in Lanzarote, is once more on the carpet. Clearly, the Guatiza
Project forms part of a far-reaching approach tending to create fast routes with a new
layout and “controlled access”; in other words, high-performance roads free of any right-ofway
to the surrounding land and, therefore, easily convertible into expressways in the future
through the construction of a second roadway.
The problem arising from the Guatiza Bypass goes far beyond the destruction of the fertile
plain of prickly pear cacti, the savage invasion of the landscape and the irreversible
fragmentation of the territory brought on by the works. It also goes beyond the squandering
of resources on works that are completely unnecessary: the heavy traffic that builds up at
the Guatiza and Mala crossings can easily be dealt with, with greater road safety than on
the bypass and without any need to inconvenience the population. All that has to be done
is apply the principles and techniques grouped within the objective of “easing the traffic”.
The problem is far deeper and the consequences for the island are grave in the extreme: to
allow this type of road, which has been designed for fast, long-distance journeys on
continental routes carrying an average volume of traffic, to form an integral part of
Lanzarote is tantamount to signing the long-term death sentence of the ecological and
scenic sustainability of the island’s road transport. It is easy to foresee, because it has
already happened elsewhere, that the existence on the network of key sections of fast
roadways with controlled access will be used to justify the progressive conversion of more
and more sections of other roads in accordance with the same parameters, in a feedback
process which will gradually spread over the island’s entire network, whatever the volume of
traffic may be in any of the sections. This is what is termed by road departments as “the
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