The new ‘Technopark’ bus exchange hub next to the Vassallo Builders’ gate in Mosta has been furnished with pelican lights, traffic lights and a bus lane at the end of Triq Pantar, allowing buses to cross what was before a continuous centre strip dividing Valletta Road.

If one ignores the fact that placing a main bus exchange hub just off a roundabout on a major intersection known to have a high traffic flow may not have been a good idea, putting pelican lights there makes perfect sense in order for bus passengers to cross Valletta Road safely. If buses exiting from Triq Pantar onto Valletta Road must cross the Mosta bound lanes to get onto the Lija bound lanes, traffic lights are a necessity. When the combination of traffic and pelican lights is going off and on like Christmas fairy lights during peak hours with high commuter and traffic flow, the consequences are already there to see. Gridlock on the roundabout and slow-moving traffic along the three main roads leading onto the roundabout in question!

If removing this expensive and hurriedly constructed exchange hub is not an option and, as a consequence, neither are the traffic lights, pelican lights and bus lane exit from Triq Pantar, a solution for restoring traffic flow to at least its original level must be found and quickly. Ignoring this situation is not an option for road users; we may learn to throw tantrums like Arriva did when Bisazza Street was closed to traffic.

Here are some points that need to be addressed.

Exit for normal vehicular flow from Triq Pantar on to Valletta Road towards Mosta must not be controlled by traffic lights. Vehicles should exit with caution, as was the case a few weeks ago.

Buses exiting from Triq Pantar, across Valletta Road onto the opposite Lija-bound lanes need to use traffic lights, which should be activated by the bus driver on approaching the exit and only if the opposite bus bay is unoccupied.

Only (pedestrian activated) pelican lights should be retained. No autonomous fixed cycle traffic lights should be in operation. Pelican lights should be given reasonable traffic flow friendly time limits with a reasonable delay before reactivation by pedestrian is possible and a realistic crossing time that is not too long.

I have seen a green for traffic last 10 seconds and the duration of red for traffic as long as 35 seconds. These time settings are surely not the work of traffic experts. If this situation is not, or cannot be resolved soon, but surely before next September, then I can only conclude that the person/s that had the idea of putting this exchange hub in this location is/are absolutely incompetent. Washing their hands of this situation and blaming the resultant congestion on the high number of cars is like me blaming these experts’ parents for procreating them on that fateful night.

Albert Bezzina

MOSTA