Major road project to be completed early next year

The new access road to the new hospital and San Gwann industrial estate, forming the first phase of a project involving the construction of four roads, would be completed by the end of the year, Transport Minister Censu Galea said.

Mr Galea, who toured the works in progress yesterday, said the entire project was expected to be completed early in 2003, "quite ahead of schedule".

The development envisages the building of four new roads and the construction of vehicular and pedestrian underpasses to the main Birkirkara bypass.

Mr Galea said that, initially, the access road was needed to provide an upgraded route for heavy vehicles and industrial trailer traffic directly off the main arterial network to San Gwann and the industrial estate, thus relieving the residential areas between San Gwann and the Kappara roundabout of much heavy traffic.

"With the construction of the Mater Dei Hospital and the current ongoing improvements to the Salina-San Gwann road route, the new link has achieved even greater importance, for the simple reason that it would provide a third alternative to the arterial network for north-south traffic, which currently uses Route 1 and the San Gwann-Kappara route," Mr Galea explained.

Special consideration was given to the management of storm water run-off so as to regulate the flow of water eventually finding its way to Balzan, Gzira and Msida.

The design of these roads, junction and storm water management infrastructure were carried out in-house by the road engineers at the Roads Directorate.

Following the publication of a call for tenders, the contract was awarded to a joint venture organisation, consisting of Polidano Bros Ltd and Road Services Ltd, for the amount of Lm1.3 million.

Works started in early June and the contract has a completion period of 52 weeks.

An important feature in the contract is to be the provision of irrigation facilities for the soft areas of the site, so that, when planted, these landscaped areas can be properly maintained.

With the Birkirkara bypass being a major thoroughfare, special attention has gone into the planning of traffic management measures for the duration of the construction stages of the project, Mr Galea said.

As a result, works are proceeding in two phases: the first covering the construction of the lower road and access links during which the existing east-west traffic link is being retained.

Once these first roads are constructed, in the second phase, traffic would be diverted to these roads and the existing bypass taken up for the overpass to be constructed.

Work on the underground gallery is being carried out in phase one, so that water run-off would be controlled from the outset.

Mr Galea said much of the over-site excavation has already been carried out, while a substantial length of the gallery has also been excavated.

Construction of foundations for the retaining walls is in hand, while work on the fabrication of precast elements for the abutment walls and bridge beams is underway off site.