Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1406390
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 01 SEPTEMBER 2021 2 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS STATEMENTS without access to legal counsel and had given the police information which helped obtain indictments for other alleged criminals. The 12-year gap between ar- rest and trial also affected the overall fairness of the process, said the judge. Two men who admitted to possession with intent to traffic cocaine, ecsta- sy and cannabis in 2009, at the start of their trial by jury yester- day, have been sentenced this morning. Justin Zahra and Wayne Pisani, today both 34 years old, had been arrested and charged with drug trafficking in 2009 af- ter police officers raiding their Sliema apartment found 12 packets of cocaine, 48 ecstasy pills and a kilogram of canna- bis. Zahra, who had been awaiting judgment on similar charges and Pisani, who had previously been charged with vehicle theft, had initially denied the charges, but when the trial began yes- terday, the men's lawyers filed guilty pleas. During submissions on pun- ishment, the Attorney General had requested that Zahra be jailed for seven years and Pisani for six. The men's defence counsel, lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili for Zahra and Kathleen Calleja Grima for Pisani, argued amongst other things that the men had coop- erated with the police and had been awaiting trial for 12 years. Mr. Justice Giovanni Grixti found the men guilty on their own admission, noting howev- er in his considerations on pun- ishment that they had released incriminating In view of this, the court jailed Pisani for three years and Zahra for three years and six months. Two admit to trafficking, get three years' jail New pedestrian routes in It-Tigrija Road, Marsa Marsa Tiġrija bridge INSET Marsa Tiġrija bridge footpaths Infrastructure Malta completing first phase of new footbridge at It-Tiġrija Road, Marsa with new footpaths MATTHEW VELLA INFRASTRUCTURE Malta is completing the first phase of the new footbridge at It-Tiġrija Road, Marsa with new footpaths leading to this new connection and other nearby areas, and the elimination of a dangerous exit from an adjacent private road. The new footpaths opening this week in this area will in- troduce a safer alternative to an existing pelican crossing across the southbound carriageway of It-Tiġrija Road, along the main route between the Marsa Hamrun Bypass and Aldo Moro Road, the busiest road corridor in Malta. The agency is also blocking the irregular access of a nearby private lane onto the two-lane southbound carriageway of this road, to eliminate the accident black spot and major delays it is causing in this arterial road. The It-Tiġrija Road footbridge is creating a safer walking and cycling route between different residential areas of Marsa and the centre of Qormi (through Il-Ġerrejja Alley). The first phase of the bridge, including its main crossing over It-Tiġrija Road, is removing a critical safe- ty risk along a very popular pe- destrian route from the centre of Marsa (Il-Jum Street and Il-Mar- sa Street areas) towards several locations of Marsa and Qormi on the other side of It-Tiġrija Road, including the Marsa Park and Ride bus terminus (L-Iljun Road, Qormi), the Marsa Sports Grounds and several other near- by industrial, retail and residen- tial locations. To reach these destinations, many pedestrians used to cross the five lanes of It-Tigrija Road and its slip roads, which did not have any form of safe crossing. Pedestrians needed to go over steel crash barriers and cross a high-speed section of the road, as vehicles went up the ramp from Diċembru Tlettax Road's northbound carriageway to the Marsa-Hamrun Bypass. Whilst the footbridge's deck and staircases were opened to pedestrians earlier this summer, this phase of the project will be ready with the commissioning of the new elevators on either side of the structure and other relat- ed finishes. Infrastructure Malta is also completing new footpaths lead- ing to the bridge and to a resi- dential and industrial area on Jean de la Cassiere Street, on the other side of this road. These footpaths will be sign-posted to guide pedestrians to their desti- nation. They will also be separat- ed from the road's carriageways with steel fencing. Infrastructure Malta is also embellishing this area with several new trees and shrubs. Studies carried out by Trans- port Malta and Infrastructure Malta in recent months con- firmed that the irregular con- nection between It-Tiġrija Road and an adjacent private road is causing serious collision risks as well as travel time delays and congestion pollution along this busy route. Footage captured as part of these studies shows heavy vehi- cles dangerously reversing onto oncoming traffic, to get in or out of this private lane serving a few warehouses, at times blocking the road even for emergency ve- hicles. Individuals could be observed irregularly stopping oncoming traffic to let these vehicles exit or enter the private road, putting themselves and other road users at risk. This connection will be blocked off in the coming days. The second phase of the It-Tiġrija footbridge project includes a second bridge deck to replace an existing zebra crossing at the one-lane off-slip connecting It-Tiġrija Road's southbound carriageway with Diċembru 13 Road, towards Val- letta. This 23-metre structure will connect Il-Jum Street, Marsa with the deck of the footbridge already in place. In 2020, Infrastructure Malta invested €5.9 million to build three new bridges for cyclists and pedestrians at Blata l-Bajda (San Gorg Preca Road), Luqa (L-Avjazzjoni Avenue) and Pao- la (Dom Mintoff Road). This year it opened another two foot- bridges and an underpass for pe- destrians and cyclists as part of the Marsa Junction Project. The agency also opened a new subway beneath Tal-Barrani Road, between Santa Lucija and Tarxien. It is currently planning similar projects for safer con- nections for alternative modes of travel in other localities. .