Ease traffic hazards in Qui-Si-Sana

It is obvious and uncontested as inevitable that the present main road at Qui-Si-Sana, Sliema will soon become a busy thoroughfare when the traffic to and from Tower Road is diverted through the Midi tunnel road most probably bypassing Bisazza Street and, especially, that part of Tower Road that leads from Zara to Għar-id-Dud.

This would bring to a close a most disgraceful and shameful chapter in terms of health hazards that residents and so many shopkeepers, shoppers and countless tourists (always caught unawares with exhaust spurts hitting their legs and also the faces of many babies) have had to endure for too many years.

As a consequence of this diversion, the main road at Qui-Si-Sana will now host the same traffic flow as the rest of Tower Road, which means an aggravation of at least a thousandfold for the residents when a sensible solution adopted at Midi to avoid this was to pass the traffic underground, thereby assuring a noiseless and hazard-free environment for its residents.

Perhaps it is too much to ask our planners to emulate Midi by digging up the whole length of the Qui-Si-Sana road and extending the Midi tunnel all the way to Għar-Id-Dud and place the concerns of the Qui-Si-Sana residents on an equal footing with Midi residents.

Perhaps if the planners think outside the box they could consider a new main road placed on the outer extremity of Qui-Si-Sana seafront that would pass through the first car park, the existing garden and the second car park and link up with the tunnel .

The existing road could be narrowed to a two-lane width to allow one-way traffic as a service road and still accommodate the current road parking situation. This reduction and the use of the car parks will compensate the part loss of garden taken up by the new road.

In this way, the area will retain its peaceful ambience with the garden acting as an effective buffer.

The existing road as reduced will host less traffic than present and the health and noise hazards that will inevitably be increased under the current plans will be substantially reduced and will not affect anyone unduly and will actually result in an improvement for the whole area.

Perhaps the ministers responsible for health and the environment as well as the planning experts and the council would care to revisit the official project/proposals so that the aggravation in the area resulting from the official proposals, which seem to have already been officially endorsed, can be mitigated in the interests of one and all.