All it took, yesterday morning, was three men and some roadworks, helped by two wardens in the searing sun and all traffic to and from Gozo and Mellieha was blocked.

This stretch of the road, the Xemxija hill, at its narrowest point, in front of the former Beachaven, must be the worst stretch in Malta’s main road, optimistically and unpopularly called NI, which stretches all the way from San Lawrenz in Gozo to the Freeport in Marsaxlokk Bay, the one which alone qualifies for EU funds.

Even those who go up this hill on the few occasions when they go to Gozo or Gozitans on the few occasions when they come to Malta, know the road is impossible at most times. It is a bone-shaker and does undoubted damage to both cars and drivers and passengers.

For all the improvements that have been made at the Gozo end and the Cirkewwa end and for all the improvements that are being done to the Coast Road stretch of the road, and for all the improvements that undoubtedly will be made to the Kappara Junction and the Addolorata Cemetery Junction, this Xemxija rollercoaster is by far the worst stretch.

There was a time, some years ago when a plan was being drawn up to route this part of the road far inland, passing through, it is true, arable land and tunneling under the ridges to join up with the Mellieha Bypass. But voluble opposition from the farmers of the area egged on by the then Labour Opposition so nothing was decided.

There was also another tentative plan to reroute the Mellieha Bay road away from the seashore but then it was found out the road would impact on the bird sanctuary and now Malta’s largest hotel is well served by the road near the seashore (although it could be a dangerous spot for pedestrians) and we now hear of more hotels lining up the seashore apart from kiosks on concrete bases. Bang goes the bay.

Back to the Xemxija hill bone shaker: this writing does not mean and must not be interpreted as meaning that work on this stretch must be done in all urgency right now in the midst of the summer season for it will have the same, or worse, impact as those three men mentioned at the beginning.

But the whole stretch from Xemxija up to Mellieha needs a thorough upgrading because this stretch is by no means of European standard. The same can be said of the hill going up to Mellieha where many road lighting is out of order, as is the entire stretch of Xemxija Bay.

All this goes to show the easy part was doing the greenfield part where solutions were easy. The hard bit is stretches just like the Xemxija Hill where any decision would find loud cries of dissent.

Fortunately, in many ways, the excavation and construction work on the towering Mistra Village project does not show signs of being near.