Much has been said and argued over the years about the state of the roads in the Maltese Islands. While on a macro level Government has embarked on the daunting task of giving the country a modern road infrastructure, on a daily basis commuters are facing an ever more difficult plight even for simple trips.

The causes are several and range from an exponential rise in the number of cars on the roads over the years, to large sections of the population which keep insisting on using their own car, even at the expense of rendering themselves absolutely ridiculous in situations where common sense dictates otherwise. In spite of all educational campaigns including the public transport reform, the majority of Maltese simply consider every other means of transport except their private car as a non-starter. No wonder we top the European charts for obesity.

Having said that, there are still those whose job or profession dictates the use of private transport. Given the option, they would probably rather rely on public transport as a cheaper alternative, but not at the expense of their monthly income. In general the service industry has to rely on its own means of transport for travelling. Commuters who earn their daily living by hopping around the island are mostly angered by self-inflicted problems due to lack of planning.

Yesterday morning, our offices received numerous calls from stranded drivers in the morning rush hour, from the St.Paul’s Bay, Burmarrad and Kennedy Grove areas, only to realise that this was due to unfinished road works in Burmarrad. According to Transport Malta, works which had been planned to be carried out during the previous night were not finished in time, resulting in the closure of this main arterial road in the northern part of the island.

To the hundreds of frustrated drivers caught in the havoc, which was made even worse with the occasional bumper to bumper collision that created further bottle necks, this was absolutely of no consolation at all. Besides the issue of accountability, circumstances like these dictate that those involved in the planning stage review their strategy in due course to prevent this happening again.

Another issue which authorities seem helpless to address are the lengthy time-frames regarding the construction of new arterial roads. Right now, anyone travelling to and from Gozo must prepare themselves for a long bumpy journey, as practically all the arterial roads are closed for reconstruction. While it is fully understandable that such projects involve an unprecedented amount of work after long years of neglect when there was absolutely no benchmark in road building, this cannot justify the fact that the timeframes set are still too long. Probably, the reasoning behind all this is to have a safety valve in place, just in case road works take longer than expected, as experience suggests.

It seems authorities are oblivious to the fact that all this will result in the northern part of the island being totally gridlocked, especially over weekends, in the coming summer months. Action must be taken urgently, including working round the clock, seven days a week.

Meanwhile, other self-inflicting situations have now become institutionalised, such as closing half of Regional Road in the morning rush hour to plant some flowers throughout the whole year.

Other cases that occasionally crop up concern haphazard road works in towns and villages, which at times cause residents to remain trapped inside their homes overnight as their garages are blocked with no warning at all.

Politicians tend to measure their success by the length of roads being surfaced -arterial or residential. It is now time to seriously factor in the quality of life, not only once the projects are finished, but also during the construction phase. A deep review is also due to have a total re-examination in the way road works are being carried out. While the level of the roads has improved dramatically over the years, the quality of the maintenance, including embellishment works carried out through the year, leaves much to be desired and still verges on the amateurish at times.