The Malta Transport Authority is planning a series of road projects which would facilitate traffic to SmartCity because of the increase in volumes that such a project will generate.

The plans are in the process of being drawn up after the developer, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and ADT will finalise a number studies to determine the estimated traffic volumes that the project will bring about.

In an interview with The Malta Independent, Architect Paul Buhagiar, the director of the ADT’s Network Infrastructure Directorate, explained that the expected traffic counts would determine how the road has to be designed. These studies are based on the number of people expected to be employed once the project has been completed.

Mr Buhagiar said that the first part of the large, multi-phased project that has to be done is the road between Bieb is-Sultan and Kalkara. The directorate is planning to leave this road without a wearing course (the final layer of asphalt) so it would not be damaged by the trucks travelling to and from the SmartCity area until it is fully developed. This road would also serve to eliminate almost completely any negative impact that the project would have on the urbanised centres of Cottonera.

He said the ADT is also planning new and upgrading several other roads to link the SmartCity project directly to Tal-Barrani Road.

Moreover, the ADT is also finalising the details of several other road projects. One of these is the re-construction of the Marsascala Bypass.