Sunday, August 06, 2006
Tenerife Island Corporation is to adapt a footpath in the Teno Rural Park for the disabled
The Tenerife Island Corporation is to adapt a footpath in the Monte del Agua - one of the largest laurisilva [1] forests in the Canary Islands - for use by people with reduced mobility, the blind and those with hearing difficulties. The island administration has budgeted 181,068 Euros (£122,157 / $233,070) for the works, which they estimate will take six months to complete.
The Cabildo underline that this is a pioneering initiative within the natural spaces of the archipelago, being that up to now, such adaptation projects have only previously been undertaken at the visitor center in Teide National Park.
The footpath is part of the forest track that crosses the Monte del Agua and measures around 850 meters in length. Works include providing parking spaces at the commencement of the footpath, with a barrier to prevent vehicle access to the footpath itself. The surface is to be compacted to make it suitable for wheelchair use. The footpath itself is to have a curbs that allow for drainage, so that the footpath surface is not eroded by rains. This curb will also serve as a guide for the blind. At the end of the footpath will be a rest area with stone benches, an interpretative information panel and space for wheelchairs.
Adaptarán un sendero del Parque de Teno para personas con discapacidad
[1] Laurisilva is a sort of subtropical cloud forest endemic to the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores, mostly composed of trees of the Lauraceae family and other "laurifolious" trees, which in the Tertiary period covered almost all of Europe and extended across the Mediterranean region.
