Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/994982
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JUNE 2018 NEWS Wider roads: Panacea for congestion or sacrificing land to the car god? THE Maltese government is embarking on a series of road- widening projects, aimed at decreasing traffic congestion. But with the number of cars increasing by 36 every day in 2017, what plans does the government have to address the root cause of the prob- lem? Traffic concerns in Malta have become ubiquitous din- ner conversation-killers, akin to the rhetorical observations about the summer heat. To- day the island is struggling under a heaving influx of foreign labour and increas- ing tourism. Down on the hot tarmac, motorists are the first to take in the inconvenience of increased vehicular pres- ence and construction 'block- ages'. And yet, car importa- tion continues unabated in Malta. As a spokesperson for transport minister, Ian Borg, told MaltaToday, "There is no one fit-all-solution to ad- dress the issues spawned by traffic congestion and the prevalent car culture." A long-term solution for Malta's traffic problem has been in the offing for the past years. A monorail involv- ing over-ground and under- ground lines was among po- tential projects submitted by Malta for funding from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in 2014. Four years later Transport Malta is still "nearing the completion of a major de- tailed study" carried out over the last 18 months on a pos- sible Mass Rapid Transit so- lution. Once completed, later on this year, the study will be presented to government, to consider the way forward. But short of a quick-fix so- lution, the government has also embarked on a number of other initiatives aimed at reducing car use – like up- grading the current maritime landing ferry sites in Sliema, Cospicua and Valletta. These facilities will include passen- ger-waiting facilities and re- al-time information services to introduce further mari- time ferry services. Car-sharing solution Another solution is to en- courage car-sharing services provided by the private sec- tor. Towards the end of the year a private contractor is expected to assemble a fleet of 150 of the latest electric vehicles (EV) on the market while providing the neces- sary infrastructure, including a dedicated EV charging net- work and an app from which clients and members of the service can pre-book a vehi- cle to carry out a trip from an exclusive parking area to another. The project will cost €9 million in private invest- ment. Transport Malta is intro- ducing safe cycling routes, across a number of villages with intelligent traffic system interventions, road-marking signs and traffic-calming measures to ensure safer routes for commuter cyclists. These routes are being de- signed and implemented on the so called 'Share the road' concept. "The project which is spread over 26km of urban streets is by far the largest investment ever, strictly dedicated to the promotion of the softer trans- port modes of cycling and walking," a TM spokesperson said, boasting of heavy invest- ment in public transport, "the latter reaching record num- bers of passenger trips". Long-term solutions needed Veteran environmentalist, Edward Mallia, is not im- pressed by these plans even if he recognises how public transport has indeed come a long way since it was first lib- eralised to Arriva; a subsidi- ary of Deustche-Bahn. "I have been using it exclu- sively these last three years, but it is still snarled up in the ever-growing cloud of private cars, a substantial number of which carrying a single passenger-driver," Mallia, a physicist, says. He laments the lack of real incentives to use public trans- port for regular commuting. "As long as people are not en- couraged to shift from private to public transport no lasting improvement can be expect- ed… what is lacking is a viable plan to solve the linked prob- lems of overcrowded roads, and addiction to private cars backed by a strong lobby." Mallia says the construction of new roads is another nega- tive impact of our reliance on the private car. It is this reliance which is now "mak- ing by way of take-up of our scarcest resource: land area". The veteran scientist is also skeptical of piecemeal solu- tions. For example, electric car hire schemes will do little to decrease congestion "un- less a proper occupancy is imposed" to ensure that these take a number of passengers – and not a single one. Mallia also doubts whether a Rapid Transit System can work on existing road lines. "So it will involve either aerial – raised viaducts – or under- ground, both hugely expen- sive to build and run." And even if we decide to go for it tomorrow there will be a time-lag of four to five years before the project actu- ally commences. "Where will we be at the finish, by way of road traffic situation?" He compares the traffic situation to the environment minister's waste reduction plans which include an in- cinerator as a final solution, with its build-time of some five years while we are rap- idly running out of land fill space. "Josè Herrera is at least 'talking' of taking draconian measures to penalise those who do not separate their waste to prevent a system collapse. [Transport minis- ter] Ian Borg has not even got that far… so far what we have seen are a series of piecemeal 'solutions' consisting in road- widening projects which do not address the root of the problem, while taking more land." Less farmland, less congestion? In the meantime, the gov- ernment is still planning new roads to cater for the increased traffic partly re- sulting from the increase in population and mega devel- opment projects like high- rise development in Mriehel. Transport Malta is claim- ing that preliminary find- ings of unpublished reports confirm that if the new road from Saqqaja to Mriehel is not implemented, within a few years, travelling times through this route will in- crease by 250%, whilst air pollution will rise by 300%. The project area will ex- tend from the Mriehel Bypass junction next to the Malta Financial Services Authority offices, along Mdina Road, in Balzan and Attard, all the way to the roundabout at the foot of Saqqajja Hill. The new road design will widen the entire route to two- or three- lanes in each direction, whilst reconfiguring over 13 junc- tions, to eliminate several bottlenecks. While Transport Malta re- veals that the project will include 19,300sq.m. of new landscaped areas, with trees and other shrubbery, along the route at Attard and Balzan, the amount of agri- cultural land lost to the new road system still has to be "As long as people are not encouraged to shift from private to public transport no lasting improvement can be expected… is lacking is a viable plan to the linked problems of overcrowded roads, and addiction to private backed by a strong lobby" JAMES DEBONO