The tragic accident on Wednesday in which a young couple lost their lives has led to renewed calls for the widening of the LZ-2 road to Playa Blanca.
The accident on Wednesday caused the death of a young couple, an Italian man and a Spanish woman, who lived in Playa Blanca. A six-year-old child who was travelling with them suffered minor injuries.
The Lanzarote Emergency Consortium reports that the cause of the accident appeared to be the car moving into the path of an incoming bus.
Yaiza Mayor Óscar Noda said that the Ayuntamiento has requested that the Canarian Government include the project in its Roads Agreement on several occasions, but has not received a concrete response.
Noda proposes that, although no project has been prepared, the widening of the road would involve using the older road that runs parallel to the LZ-2, which has a 60 kph speed limit and is currently recommended for use by cyclists and slower vehicles. “The old road would have to be widened and the hard shoulders improved” he stated. However, this would eliminate the only remaining cycle route to the southern resort since the Femes road was closed to cyclists
The Cabildo’s Public Works Councillor, Jacobo Medina, agreed that the project is important. “Lanzarote has suffered systematic neglect in terms of roads for years,” said Medina, “We can no longer maintain the narrative that no more infrastructure is needed when we have roads designed for another era. The number of vehicles and the population have grown considerably, and we urgently need the road between Yaiza and Playa Blanca to be widened.”