December 13 Road in Marsa to be closed for six months
One of Malta's busiest arteries, December 13 Road in Marsa, will be closed off for six months to be rebuilt and include a tunnel.
The project is expected to be completed in 50 weeks and the road will be closed to traffic for 26 weeks, a planning authority board heard yesterday as it approved the full development permit.
The existing wide centre strip between the two carriageways in December 13 Road will be narrowed and the road will be realigned to make space for an underpass, which will branch off from the left lane leading to Valletta, just before the footbridge. Cars would pass through the short tunnel to exit next to Spencer Gardens and Hexagon House in the Menqa area in Marsa.
A Transport Ministry spokesman said it was too early to say when the project would start, but the calls for tenders would soon be issued. It was also too early to estimate how much the project would cost, especially because it formed part of larger plans for the area.
The underpass will be built by cutting through the rock and then creating a concrete framework.
The construction works will not only affect the flow of traffic but will also restrict access to a football ground close to Hexagon House.
As a result, the planning authority imposed a planning gain contribution of €35,000 on Transport Malta, which would be used to upgrade other playing fields in Marsa. The money will also serve to replace about 80 trees that will have to be uprooted and planted elsewhere as a result of the work.
Marsa local council objected to the decision and accused the planning authority of failing to carry out a "serious" public consultation on such an invasive project. "Today, Mepa showed the reform did not make it move closer to the residents' interests," the council said.
People who lived close to December 13 suffered all year round because of unbearable smells and drainage constantly seeping into roads, it added.
Mepa chairman Austin Walker said he was surprised at the council's reaction. "As part of the planning process, Mepa twice informed the council about this project and never received a single reaction or request for a meeting to discuss the plans," he said.
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lgalea
Jun 12th 2010, 09:15
How else could friends and friends of friends backs be scratched so that they will in turn scratch the PN's back when collection time comes?
george farrugia
Jun 11th 2010, 22:54
I cannot understand the principle behind this. Disturb the traffic flow for all residents of half of Malta just to give an easier access to a few who will have their boats at Il-Menqa. I always had doubts about the sanity of the brains behind Mepa...but this dispels any trace of doubt. The Menqa already has a very fast and safe access from the Marsa round about ( tas-suffarini) . It appears that the transport authority is hell bent to spend a fortune on a tunnel for which there certainly is no need. The mind boggles as to why such expenditure is being pushed forward....and who is protecting the public purse.
James Wightman
Jun 11th 2010, 21:53
Oh a tunnel, on a key traffic route... ummm... bicycle friendly...???? (like all the others)
Perhaps MEPA - TM would like to rethink that one or their policy on bicycles in tunnels...
Dr. John Zammit
Jun 11th 2010, 16:47
Six months of nightmare are coming to Malta, especially for the workers in the morning!!!!!
Edward Zammit
Jun 11th 2010, 15:38
They said that they are going to cut rocks to make a tunnel !!! Please oh please (if anyone in Government even considers to read these messages), use these rocks that are going to be dug up and also other material from construction sites and quarries to reclaim land from the sea like other countries are doing. It will benefit Malta a whole lot in the end and it would also solve some problems. Environmentally suck constructions actually encourage marine life to proliferate in artificial reefs. So please If anyone out there is reading this consider for the better of all.
A. Saliba
Jun 11th 2010, 13:11
Yesterday the report said that a few lanes will be closed, but apparently now it's the entire arterial road for a whole year! I'm going to have to move to the north.
Emmanuel Ebejer
Jun 11th 2010, 11:07
GOD have mercy!!! When Aldo Moro Road was close for a few hours due to the infamous bridge accident, the whole Island came to stand still. I shudder to think about the mayhem this project will cause if December 13 Road will be closed for 6 months. They say it will be 6 months....in Maltese terms that means 2 years.
KJ Tabone
Jun 11th 2010, 10:10
Any clue as to how traffic will be diverted? I use that road at least twice a day to get to work. It'd be nice to know how I need to alter my route.