Cemetery intersection, the widening of the Marsa-Ħamrun Bypass and the rebuilding of parts of Triq Diċembru 13 and the northern end of Triq Aldo Moro, are being completed this month and in the beginning of October, with most of the new lanes and improved junctions becoming available to road users as from next week, transport minister Ian Borg announced on Saturday morning.
Borg gave an update on the concluding phases of works on the route from Marsa to Santa Venera. The €14.2 million investment to upgrade the arterial south-central road link that is giving road users over 15 kilometres of new or rebuilt lanes and 10 upgraded junctions along this route, reducing travelling times and increasing road safety whilst improving air quality in nearby localities.
The minister said Infrastructure Malta contractors were working tirelessly to reach set goals and to finish as much of the work as they could before the beginning of the scholastic year.
Most of the works were carried out this summer, after Infrastructure Malta increased project resources to complete them ahead of schedule, and open as many of the new and rebuilt lanes as possible before the beginning of the scholastic year. The widening of the Marsa-Ħamrun bypass was originally scheduled to be ready in 2019, but the extensive works involved, including the building of two new lanes and the rebuilding of road’s central strip, were completed several months in advance.
During the last few weeks, the final works of these projects were ongoing round the clock. Several Infrastructure Malta contractors were completing the planned upgrades along different sections of the route, under the guidance of the agency’s project management teams. Where possible, works that required partial closures of existing lanes, including the laying of the final asphalt surfaces, were scheduled to take place at night to minimise difficulties to road users.
Besides the re-alignment and widening of existing roads to improve vehicular flows and junction safety, these three projects also included the development of over 38 kilometres of new underground water, electricity and telecommunication network cable and pipes, to replace existing ones and to introduce new capacity for future requirements. Some of these networks, including high voltage electricity cables, were placed in 1.5 kilometres of newly-built walk-through underground culverts, which will facilitate future maintenance and repairs without the need to dig up the new road surfaces.
Another 3.8 kilometres of underground stormwater pipes and culverts were installed beneath the new roads as well. Through these projects, Infrastructure Malta developed 2.8 kilometres of new pavements, rebuilt six bus lay-bys in a safer design and installed over four kilometres of new vehicle restraint systems (crash barriers) and 350 pole-mounted street lighting luminaires along the projects’ 2.5-kilometre road corridor.
A 400-metre cycle lane was introduced in Triq Aldo Moro, to eventually link to other cycling-friendly infrastructure being developed in other ongoing and upcoming projects along the same route, including the development of the new seven-flyover intersection instead of the Addolorata Cemetery traffic lights junction, the rebuilding of part of Vjal Santa Luċija and the introduction of two new tunnels as part of the Santa Luċija roundabout project, and the rebuilding of Triq Ħal Luqa linking this roundabout to Luqa and Gudja.
The three projects being completed in the next few weeks between Marsa and Santa Venera are not the only arterial road network upgrades being implemented this summer. Infrastructure Malta has already completed the upgrade of Żebbuġ’s two main roundabouts and the widening of Triq l-Imdina, the arterial road between them. The agency has also completed the upgrade of the T-junction linking Triq tal-Barrani with Gudja and Għaxaq and the widening and upgrade of part of T’Alla u Ommu Hill linking Burmarrad to the Birguma area of Naxxar.
The widening of Vjal l-Avjazzjoni, between Gudja and Luqa, the rebuilding of Triq Bormla between Żabbar and Żejtun and of Triq tal-Balal between Naxxar and San Ġwann and the upgrade of the Mosta Technopark roundabout are in progress as well.