Works on the Kappara Junction project will start in 2014 after the project was approved by Mepa yesterday. The meeting attracted a full house.

The news will be welcomed by the vast majority of people who live in Malta as the nightmare tailbacks that blight the stretch of road should become a thing of the past. There is absolutely no doubt, whatsoever, that something has to be done. The area in question clogs up each and every day, without fail.

No doubt, some people will not be all that pleased, especially residents in the area, who have often voiced their concerns about noise and their privacy being invaded. Also, there are others who will be affected, and during yesterday’s meeting, it emerged that only one residential unit and one commercial establishment will be affected as a result of the project. The commercial establishment in question is the Cottage restaurant, which will be pulled down to make way for the project, the news sparking protests from the owners of the establishment.

Sound barriers will also be used for the first time to help reduce noise levels for residents who live closeby.  Between September and October, the government is expected to issue a tender so that works on the junction could kick-start, including a flyover and the widening of part of the Regional Road (near Kappara). The tender is expected to be issued over the next month or two and the works are planned to be carried out over an 18-month period.

The works will include a pedestrian crossing while the bottlenecks that exist will be removed. This will help improve the traffic flow.

The project has been in the offing for years, the first attempt to solve the problem going as far back as 1995, followed by other attempts by the Roads’ Department (before the ADT and Roads’ and Infrastructure Directorate were founded).

The most important issue at stake, here, is that the project should not be seen as a quick fix to the traffic problem that Malta faces. Regional Road forms part of the main artery which runs through Malta, and this eventually leads up to the Kappara junction. No doubt, in itself, the flyover will facilitate matters. But it must form part of a holistic approach to alleviate problems in other areas – the Marsa junction, for example.

Unless a whole traffic plan is put together, then at some point or another, there are always going to be bottle necks. Of course, this is going to be a major project. One hopes that serious thought is going to be put into a plan to allow as smooth a flow of traffic as possible while the works are being carried out. It will be a big job, and it will take a long time. People are going to have to be patient while the flyover is being built. And this is, perhaps, the biggest test in it all. Flyovers have been built a million times over, but managing to put a system in place that will not result in national gridlock while this is probably going to prove to be much more of a headache.