Car drivers who recently breathed a sigh of relief when the road works leading to the airport were, at long last, finished, are in for a surprise.
Yellow signposts that have been put up along the road around 13 December Road, are still covered with black plastic bags. They harbinger far more serious traffic disruptions in future weeks as part of the road works to create an underpass linking the road to the VISET terminal.
A Mepa hearing last November had discussed and approved, with only one opposing (Roderick Galdes, MP) the Works Method Statement. As will be seen, parts of this plan have already been delayed, mainly by the discovery of a cemetery for Turkish soldiers killed in the 1565 Great Siege, and by the complexity of rerouting the intricate communications network centring on GO’s Blata l-Bajda building.
The following is taken from an article in The Malta Independent published last November:
Broadly speaking, the work will consist of five phases but these will be preceded by two preparatory stages, work on which is due to begin this month.
Preliminary Stage One is the improvement of the alternative road that will be used when work starts, Triq is-Salib tal-Marsa.
Stage Two is the patching of the road from the Menqa to Triq is-Salib tal-Marsa, which will also be heavily used.
Phase One proper entails the excavation of culverts and the redressing of persistent drainage problems in the area between GO headquarters and the Marsa parish church.
Phase Two is the relaying of the many infrastructure services underneath Spencer Gardens, owned by both GO and Enemalta.
When this work is carried out, traffic flow in 13 December Road will not be affected.
It will be affected in Phase Three (the November report said this would be around February but actually this is the phase that is about to begin) when traffic going in the direction of Valletta will be switched from the Ħamrun side to the Marsa side (in other words where traffic coming from Valletta now passes) from just before the bridge between the two towns (St Thomas Street) to Blata l-Bajda.
Transport Malta calculated that the road leading to Valletta has higher peaks, especially when people are going to work, than the one coming from Valletta, which is more staggered.
In Phase Three, traffic from Valletta will have a variety of alternate routes such as Spencer Hill, il-Menqa and Belt il-Ħażna, rejoining the main route at Triq is-Salib tal-Marsa. Cars exiting Valletta will also be able to exit by the renewed road passing by VISET and the Sea Passenger Terminal.
Phases Four and Five will be done concurrently.
The work on the Ħamrun side (Phase Three) will last 18 weeks, while Phase Four will take 19 weeks and Phase Five 13 weeks. During these last two phases, traffic to 13 December Road will be blocked and alternate routes used.
Traffic going to Valletta will be longer: From Aldo Moro Road traffic will join the Ħamrun Bypass and then at is-Salib tal-Marsa roundabout access to Belt il-Ħażna, il-Menqa and on to Valletta.