The €10 million Infrastructure Malta (IM) project that sought to rehabilitate Malta’s four main tunnels is now in its final stages, and is expected to be completed by the end of September, an IM spokesperson told The Malta Independent.
Technical assessments of the tunnels’ condition commissioned in 2018 concluded that whilst the tunnels were structurally sound and did not have any critical damage, they needed substantial maintenance works and localised repairs.
The agency started works to upgrade these four tunnels: Kirkop Tunnels, the Santa Venera Tunnels, the Tal-Qroqq Tunnels and the Ta’ Giorni Tunnels less than a year ago, in August 2020.
The principal works of the project were completed in June 2021.
The tunnels’ electricity and lighting equipment needed to be replaced in order to meet international standards, the spokesperson said. A major upgrade of the tunnels’ fire safety, security and emergency systems was also required, the analysis confirmed.
Final touches to some installation equipment were kept on hold due to a delay in the delivery of some of the necessary equipment to Malta, which was attributed to Covid-19 restrictions in the countries where the equipment was being manufactured.
All remaining works are being carried out at night, whilst keeping at least one lane in each direction open to road users.
The main project works included: extensive repairs to the tunnel tubes and their portals using specialised materials for this kind of infrastructure, the laying of new underground networks, new fire hydrant pipelines and new storm water catchments, the construction of new control rooms and reservoirs and the resurfacing of all their vehicle lanes.
When the surfaces of the tunnel walls and portals were exposed in the cleaning phase to remove decades of soot (the oldest of the four tunnels is the Ta’ Giorni Tunnel, dating back to 1967) the project team noted that some sections had more extensive damages than originally identified through the initial studies, the spokesperson said.
A ground-penetrating radar study of the two rock-cut tunnels at Ta’ Giorni and Santa Venera was hence carried out to identify subsurface cavities or fissures that necessitated more structural interventions.
Works continued with the construction of a control room outside each of these tunnels.
In these control rooms, Infrastructure Malta is now finishing the installation of the control systems of the new mechanical and electrical systems in each tunnel; they include intelligent lighting systems that change their intensity at different parts of the tunnel and at different times of day to improve drivers’ visibility, as well as security cameras, fire alarms and air quality sensors.
Furthermore, the emergency escapes in each tunnel are being upgraded and equipped with fire doors, emergency call stations, emergency-exit signage and evacuation marker lights, the spokesperson added.
In case of an emergency, the tunnels’ systems will now be able to be monitored and operated from the new control rooms.
The CCTV cameras and sensors will in turn be linked to the national Traffic Control Centre, for constant monitoring. Moreover, they will be connected to an incident detection system that can automatically alert the emergency response authorities of any difficulties, such as fires or stopped vehicles, the spokesperson said.
Following consultations with the Civil Protection Department and the Water Services Corporation, Infrastructure Malta has also built underground reservoirs outside two of these tunnels, where no alternative water supply was readily available, to harvest water for the new firefighting systems.