An activity organised on the coast road between Ir-Ramla and Salina warranted the closure of this heavily used road to all motorists between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. last Sunday. Motorists became aware of this deviation when they reached Ir-Ramla near the entrance to the Maghtab waste disposal area.

The alternatives were: Turn back, park and watch the event or crawl along Maghtab main roads for around two kilometres, exiting in a narrow exit onto the Naxxar-Salina road. The rate of exit was slow since exiting cars have to drive onto the main road against the traffic flow from Salina - which was heavy since the coastroad was closed both ways, and against the flow of traffic coming down from Naxxar.

Several officials were stationed guarding the entrance to the blocked part of the coastroad but no organised set-up was in place along the deviation providing help for motorists to exit onto the main road.

This scenario can be witnessed some 10 times a year, every time an activity is held on the coast road.