St Paul's Bay bypass

It is indeed reassuring that the faulty part of St Paul's Bay bypass next to the "large building excavation" (south-bound carriageway) is not in fact being used to handle traffic in both directions, as I have wrongly assumed (Danger On St Paul's Bay Bypass?, June 20) to be the case following the notice published by the ADT regarding traffic deviation in the area. It is also reassuring when Daniela Borg Mizzi (manager public relations, ADT, June 27) tells us that the faulty road has been monitored by road engineers from the Network Infrastructure Directorate for the past two and a half years. This is surely a point in favour of the directorate in recognising the potential for danger in this area.

Ms Borg Mizzi rightly remarks that I have made a wrong assumption because in reality, the north-bound carriageway was only closed to traffic up to the masonry bridge. My wrong assumption is based on a wrongly or incompletely worded ADT notice (ADT website) which states "the Malta Transport Authority notifies that the carriageway in the direction of Xemxija will be completely closed to vehicular traffic from Monday 12th June, 2006". The word "completely" can mean "in its entirety". The notice, wrote Ms Borg Mizzi, never spoke of this arrangement (two way traffic flow on one carriageway) being put into effect along the entire length of the road. For that matter, the notice also did not say that only part of the north-bound carriageway was to be closed, nor was the masonry bridge mentioned. My wrong conclusion was in fact a legitimate assumption based on the wording of the notice and the word "completely".

With this conviction I was horrified of the dangers motorists, site workers and residents could have been exposed to if my fears were to become reality. Nobody will guarantee that this stretch of road is completely (entirely) risk-free especially if it had to take heavier loads. The fact that road engineers are closely monitoring this site is in fact proof that there is a risk, and that my observations and photos do identify a road stability problem. The fact that the two-lane south-bound carriageway terminates just outside the limits of the weak section of road is circumstantial evidence that the road engineers are aware that this stretch of road could not take added weight.

Now that I and other readers of this paper have seen that the ADT public relations manager does in fact read my letters in The Times, many of us are still waiting for her to convey her superior's explanation on how the road vehicle registration tax act is compatible with Article 90 EC following my letters on the subject appearing in the Sunday Times of March 19, April 3, April 30 and June 11, as well as the article by Simon Busuttil MEP, The Limits of Car Registration Tax, appearing on June 7. If the letters were missed I will be very happy to convey  a copy of the texts via aaabez@keyworld.net.