GC-1 Belén María: closed 22:00 to 06:00 on 4 November

Where and when is the GC-1 closed on 4 November?

The Consejería de Obras Públicas, Vivienda y Movilidad, the Canary Islands government's public works and transport department, closes the GC-1 from 22:00 on Wednesday 4 November. The closure ends at 06:00 on Thursday 5 November.

It affects the 300 metres of southbound carriageway closest to the Glorieta de Belén María. The glorieta is the roundabout in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria where the building works are under way.

The access from the Avenida Marítima into the Calle José Guerra Navarro is shut as well. That street leads to the Centro de Salud El Puerto, the health centre in El Puerto.

The Consejería sets up a temporary detour for the night and links it to the soterramiento, the lowering of the road below ground level. Its statement does not say what work will take place that night.

What changes for journeys south and to the airport?

Only the southbound direction is closed, and the Consejería names no restriction on the opposite carriageway. Anyone driving south at night from the port and Avenida Marítima area takes the detour between 22:00 and 06:00.

The statement does not mention the airport or journey times for transfers. If you drive through this part of the capital to a flight before 06:00 on Thursday, allow extra time.

Visitors staying in the south of the island who are not travelling to the capital see no change, going by the information available. The closure applies only at night and only at this one spot.

For earlier closures, the Consejería advised drivers to plan their trips and follow the signs. The statement mentions no fines, tolls or registration.

Which detour applies overnight?

According to the Consejería, vehicles from El Puerto and El Sebadal join the GC-1 via the Calle Gran Canaria. El Sebadal is the industrial zone next to the port.

Emergency services that need to reach the Centro de Salud El Puerto take the Calle Juan Rejón. The health centre stays reachable, and only the route via the Calle José Guerra Navarro falls away.

The same detour via the Calle Gran Canaria applied on the night of 9 to 10 September. Then the cause was asphalt work on the same 300 metres, also from 22:00 to 06:00.

Why is the Canary Islands government building at the Glorieta de Belén María?

The project lowers the Avenida Marítima and improves the junctions at Belén María and Torre Las Palmas. The GC-1/AM will then run deeper, with two lanes in each direction, and a roundabout above it will serve traffic from the port and from La Isleta.

The glorieta counts as one of the capital's traffic hotspots. In future the GC-1, the Avenida Marítima and traffic from El Sebadal will cross at different levels.

All three lanes are meant to stay open during construction, so they shift step by step towards the port. The city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Cabildo (island government), the port authority and the Canary Islands government are involved, and the Canaries' public works department pays the costs.

How often has this stretch been closed before?

The night of 5 November is not the first closure at this spot. On 26 October the southern carriageway stayed shut from 22:00 to 01:00 to set up detours for the building phase of the soterramiento.

Rosana Melián, Director General de Infraestructura at the Consejería, is named in the report on that closure. Temporary asphalting was planned for 28 to 30 October from 08:00 to 18:00, with no lane closures expected during the day.

On 24 September a new southern access to the Puerto de Las Palmas opened at Castillo de La Luz, Monday to Friday from 06:00 to 18:00. A new temporary link between the GC-1 and the port had already been announced on 14 August.

The Consejería did not say whether more night closures follow after 5 November. The available information contains no timetable for the next building stages.

What does the project cost and when will it be finished?

The tender of 20 September 2023 set a base budget of €36,450,967.25 and a construction time of 29 months. The client and funder is the Canary Islands government's Consejería de Obras Públicas.

The contract was signed on 27 June 2024 for more than 25 million euros. It went to a joint venture (UTE) of four firms: Desarrollos e Iniciativas Canarias, Obras Públicas Canarias, AMC Construcciones y Contratas 2014 and Tecnología de la Construcción y Obras Públicas.

The available information does not explain the gap between the base budget of 36.45 million euros and the award of just over 25 million euros. It does not give an exact award figure either.

In February 2025 old fuel contamination in the ground halted the works, as Pablo Rodríguez, Consejero for Obras Públicas, announced on 7 May 2025. He said the clean-up had been commissioned, and how much material was affected stayed open at the time.

The works went on once the ground studies were complete, as a report of 24 November 2025 shows. An updated completion date, the final cost and the question of who pays for the clean-up have not been published.