Worthy roads

For the past few weeks, and officially since last Monday, Maltese drivers have had the exhilarating and, until recently, quite rare experience of driving along smooth, state-of-the-art roads, stretching from Siggiewi to Targa Gap. The new roads, over 16 km in length, have been financed by the fifth (and last) Italian protocol, which provided Malta with a total of Lm30 million, a good chunk of which was spent precisely on the new road network.

The roads have been "built to last", we have been assured, their multiple layers ensuring maximum durability to cope with wear and tear, while water courses and service tunnels two metres deep have been built to pass cables and other services beneath the pavements, thus hopefully putting an end to the still frequent sight of new or almost new roads being torn up anew to provide new services or repair existing ones.

In parts of the new network, bicycle lanes have also been provided, though there is no reason why these have not been more widely extended. After all, there is a growing move to taking up cycling both as a way of keeping fit and to cut down on pollution and traffic.

Yet there is no denying that the new road network just inaugurated, and others in the pipeline (to be built with EU funds), should finally yank us out of the ranks of poorly developed countries (at least in this respect) and put us on a level with neighbouring Sicily. The many Maltese who have travelled, and taken motoring holidays, in Europe and further afield can surely appreciate the difference.

Those driving in Italy, in particular, are surely familiar with the excellent state of the roads there. The Italians, after all, have been renowned road builders since Roman times - some Roman roads have stood the test of time, 2,000 years later - and thus engaging Italian contractors for the Malta roads was a logical and fair thing to do. After all, these were being built with Italian money.

However, there was another beneficial spin-off, since the Italian contractors engaged Maltese subcontractors, who undoubtedly have benefited from the knowhow and expertise of the Italian road-builders. Besides, all the roads were completed on time - perhaps another first for Malta!

If the road programme continues as planned, the government would have removed one of the major sources of locals' - and foreigners' - complaint. Indeed, in the next few months, works are to start on the upgrading of the St Paul's Bay bypass, the Manuel Dimech bridges on the Regional Road, the Luqa-Gudja avenue, the Hal Far estate, and the Victoria-San Lawrenz road in Gozo.

These major roads will be followed by the formation of new local roads in many new housing estates, where residents have understandably reached the end of their tether - a feeling they vent in many letters to this and other newspapers. Many of these residents have had to put up with badly formed or even inexistent streets, with all the hardships and inconvenience this entails, for years if not decades.

This long overdue overhaul and upgrading of our road network should also make us focus on other aspects of driving, namely road courtesy and safety. While the new roads can be said to be well lit (too well lit, according to one letter-writer!), the same cannot be said for other roads and in particular for the few tunnels we have, such as the one in the Regional Road, or those at Tal-Qroqq and St Venera. The installation of more speed and surveillance cameras would also help to minimise and prevent accidents - and, sad to say, vandalism.

Some drivers, however, are objecting to the fact that many of the new roads consist of a single lane, making it difficult to overtake, or - in case of an accident - for an ambulance to reach its destination. The widening of pavements and the narrowing of roads to single-lane stretches has been done in an effort to calm traffic, but there is a case for double lanes, surely. After all those of us who have driven abroad are used to multiple-lane thoroughfares and highways.

Another consideration is the use of our spanking new thoroughfares by heavy lorries and container trucks. Not all of our road network can cope with the passage of such vehicles - as can be seen in the myriad cracked surfaces and subsided roads. Since the bulk of such traffic is in the harbour and the Freeport area, particular attention should be given to this when the turn of roads there comes.

Upgrading the road network and opening new roads does not come cheaply, as we have seen. It is therefore the duty of each and every one of us to use them wisely and carefully because, in the end, it is we who have to pay for their proper upkeep.