Like many drivers, Alfred Sant uses the road network close to the airport frequently.

And like all these drivers, Alfred Sant has become frustrated as the road project to supposedly improve the flow in the area is taking too long to come to an end.

Also, like all drivers, he is upset that, until this is over, “the geography of this area continues to change”, as he lamented on Facebook last Sunday. It is a dangerous place, he added

To enter the airport, one has to go in circles endlessly, not knowing where you are being taken. The same happens when one is leaving the airport.

This is the first and last impression that tourists are being given. Confusion when they arrive, and confusion before they leave. It’s not a good impression.

What is even more problematic is that, as Sant has said, the route to and from the airport changes continuously. One does not have the chance to get used to one way of going to or leaving from MIA before the system changes again.

Worse, the signage is “primitive”, to use Sant’s words. Drivers, particularly those who do not frequent the area on a regular basis, are finding it tough to arrive at their destination. “It’s dangerous because it is not clear and not well lit,” Sant wrote, meaning that in the darker hours, there is an even bigger risk of one getting lost or for accidents to happen.

It is not the first time that Sant has complained about what is happening on our roads. Last August, he said that too many projects were taking place at the same time. He is right about that too. It is not a pleasant feeling that drivers get when they encounter delays because of one project, waste so much time to pass the area in question, only to find another project taking place some metres down the road.

Sometimes the closure of a small stretch leads to a very long detour. Many times no signs are made available, leaving drivers who are not familiar with the area not knowing from where to pass.

Sometimes we are also told that roads have been opened or projects have been completed, but then it would not be so. Just ask the drivers who use the Mriehel area for more details about this. Or drivers who use Naxxar Road between Lija and Birkirkara, who find humps and bumps every 100 metres in spite of the road having been reopened after what was supposedly a thorough rebuilding exercise. Or drivers making use of the St Paul’s Bay by-pass, where the finishing touches of a resurfacing project seem to be taking longer than the actual tarmac works in the north end of the stretch.

The government and Infrastructure Malta will defend themselves saying that such works are needed to make the traffic flow better.

Agreed, but why does it take so long? And, as Alfred Sant said, why is there so much confusion and danger to drivers while these works are taking place?