Pedestrianisation of Marsascala roads

The middle two-page spread about Marsascala Day on September 7 (September 12) was a colourful and accurate short account of the activities held by the Marsascala local council the previous weekend. Well done to the organisers, helpers and all concerned.

The experiment of pedestrianising Triq ix-Xatt certainly added to the atmosphere. This experiment was liked by some but went down badly with others, particularly some residing in Triq ix-Xatt and Triq Sant'Anna, who were deprived of parking next or near their homes for the duration of the experiment. All have their valid reasons, both those residents who do not like this pedestrianisation and traffic arrangement and the organisers and the Marsascala Bars and Restaurants Association.

What I would like to point out is that, in the absence of better traffic arrangements that would necessitate an adequate roads infrastructure and, possibly, promoting some secondary roads to main road thoroughfares, some other improvements could surely be considered and carried out in the meantime.

One such improvement that would certainly enhance Triq ix-Xatt all the year round and not just in the summer weekends would be the widening of the pavement by the bars and restaurants and limiting the parking to only one side of this one-way street.

I amateurishly toyed about with photo-manipulation software to come up with a doctored photograph of how Triq ix-Xatt could look like with two wide pavements on each side.

One thing is certain, Marsascala needs attention as much as it needs to have decent approach roads leading to it from Żabbar. The bypass may be in the pipeline but I hope that, first, the old road from Żabbar gets a new surface because in its terrible state it will surely not be adequate to handle all the traffic that will be diverted through it while the bypass is closed.