Vehicles heading south towards Tamaraceite, from 8 a.m. on Sunday, and for 15 days, will have to be diverted through the San José tunnels towards Avenida Marítima.
The Ministry of Public Works will repeat the total closure of the Ring Road, but in the southbound direction, in the second half of August.
Complete closure of the GC-3 ring road in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria due to waterproofing works on the Guiniguada Viaduct
The Department of Public Works, Infrastructure, Architecture, and Housing of the Gran Canaria Island Council , headed by Vice President Augusto Hidalgo , has announced the complete closure of a key section of the GC-3 ring road in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This measure will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 2nd, and will affect the section that crosses the Guiniguada ravine , due to the start of waterproofing work on the two decks of the Guiniguada Viaduct.
For the first 15 days, the road will be closed in the direction of Tamaraceite and the north of the island. Vehicles coming from the south on the GC-3 will encounter the closure at Barranco Seco and will have to detour via the GC-31 (San José tunnel road) to Avenida Marítima and continue towards Julio Luengo to head north. The southbound lane will remain open during this first two weeks.
Details about road closures and detours on the GC-3 Ring Road
Fifteen days later, the closure will be total, but only southbound, with that lane remaining completely closed day and night for the duration of the bridge works. The northbound work is expected to be completed around August 15th; at that time, that lane will reopen, and the southbound lane will be temporarily closed for another 15 days. During this period, Avenida Marítima will primarily absorb much of the usual traffic on the ring road.
These closures will allow workers to operate the viaduct with maximum safety, an essential task to guarantee the preservation, safety, and durability of this strategic infrastructure for island mobility. More than 130.000 vehicles travel along this key point daily.
These works provide the Guiniguada Viaduct with essential waterproofing for all similar road structures, correcting a deficiency since its construction that had affected the internal tensioners already repaired a year ago also by this Ministry.
Informational signage is already installed at the entrance to the Santo Domingo tunnel (after Salto del Negro) and on the GC-31 highway using vertical signs. In addition, drivers receive updated information via electronic gantries located on the main roads (GC-1 and GC-3), as well as through announcements in traditional media and official social networks.
Meetings have also taken place between the Island Council and the City Council to coordinate actions in response to the expected impact, especially on Avenida Marítima, Ciudad Baja and affected municipal routes.
Development of waterproofing works on the Guiniguada Viaduct
On Sunday, after the road closure, workers and specialized machinery will begin preparing the road surface for waterproofing . Initially, the existing asphalt layer will be milled to a depth of approximately 10 centimeters, approaching the level of the bridge's concrete. Subsequently, a leveling layer will be applied to make the surface as flat as possible before installing the asphalt sheets that will ensure the viaduct's waterproofing. These operations are scheduled to begin between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
In total, more than 18.000 square meters will be waterproofed on the two sections of the Guiniguada Viaduct, with each carriageway completed in a record time estimated at eight to nine days. To achieve this accelerated pace, the Regional Ministry has agreed with the contractor to double the usual shifts, bringing the total to twenty specialized workers on site simultaneously, compared to the typical five or six.
Once the waterproofing of a roadway is completed, it will be fully paved and opened to traffic, then the process will be repeated in the opposite direction to minimize disruption to users.
Due to the technical and logistical complexity of these tasks, the work must be carried out exclusively during daylight hours. This requires the affected section to remain completely closed 24 hours a day for the duration of the work on each bridge deck.
The schedule was designed following a specific traffic pattern study conducted by the Public Works and Infrastructure Technical Service. This analysis concluded that August—especially Sundays and the first few weekdays—has a lower average daily traffic volume on this key road for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Impact on mobility and recommendations for drivers
The technical report indicates that the anticipated disruptions during the closure of the GC-3 ring road will be similar to those experienced on weekdays throughout the rest of the year on other main roads in Gran Canaria, especially during peak hours. Therefore, the impact on traffic is considered manageable through the use of alternative routes.
During the northbound closure, traffic will be redirected primarily through the San José tunnels (GC-31) to Avenida Marítima , and from there, through the Julio Luengo tunnels to the GC-2. In the event of a southbound closure, detours will be made through the La Ballena tunnels (GC-23) to Julio Luengo and subsequently to Avenida Marítima to connect with the GC-1.
Access to Lomo Blanco and surrounding neighborhoods
Despite these northbound closures, the Regional Ministry will allow access to the Lomo Blanco neighborhood and from there to Tafira or El Zurbarán only via the GC-31 (the ascent to the San José tunnels), not via the ring road itself. However, on the first night of the closure—from Sunday the 2nd to Monday the 3rd—this access will also remain closed between 22:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for resurfacing. The connection will be fully restored without further interruptions starting early Monday morning.
Works included in the overall plan of the Gran Canaria Island Council
The waterproofing work is part of the overall project for the complete resurfacing of 11 kilometers of the ring road, awarded by the Regional Ministry last year for over 18 million euros . This phase corresponds to Lot 2, carried out by Lopesan Asfaltos y Construcciones, with 2,2 million euros of the total budget allocated to this intervention alone.
With the aim of minimizing disruption, the Cabildo requests maximum citizen cooperation throughout the development of the works and insists on planning journeys in advance, consulting alternative routes and using public transport whenever possible.
