St Paul's Bay bypass

I refer to the letter by Albert Bezzina Danger On St Paul's Bay Bypass? (June 20).

The correspondent makes the wrong assumption that the traffic diversions in place during the reconstruction of St Paul's Bay Bypass involve the shifting of all traffic on the carriageway closest to a large building excavation. This consequently leads Mr Bezzina to drawing some wrong conclusions.

The media release issued by the Malta Transport Authority to notify of the impending shifting of all traffic passing through this road onto one carriageway never spoke of this arrangement being put into effect along the entire length of the road. The Xemxija roundabout was only mentioned to identify which carriageway would be closed to traffic, namely the northbound carriageway.

In fact, the first phase of work on this project is limited to the northbound carriageway between the Erba' Mwiezeb roundabout up till the masonry bridge on the bypass. Traffic is flowing normally on two carriageways between the bridge and the Xemxija bypass. This traffic arrangement will remain in place until further notice.

Finally, may I point out that road engineers from the Network Infrastructure Directorate have been monitoring the road stretch in Mr Bezzina's pictures on a weekly basis for the past two and half years. The site is also being closely monitored by a structural engineer.