Pollution in the new Valletta entry routes

I take a cue from Paul Borg’s letter regarding safety in St Mark Street, Valletta (April 27) where he puts forward the residents’ concern about their safety with the huge number of cars that will start passing through the street to enter Valletta.

Another concern related to health and safety is the increased pollution in this street that will result from so much more traffic. Emissions from car engines contain a variety of polluting gases including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and volatile organic compounds as well as fine particulate matter in the case of diesel engines.

Now St Mark Street is a very narrow street and it seems that pollution could build up to rather high levels on calm summer mornings when there is no wind to disperse pollutants. This would be even more so because driving will invariably be on low gear (a most polluting way to drive) since cars will have to be practically stationary before leaving St Mark Street and turning left into Old Bakery street.

Has any serious study been carried out to model the pollution resulting from hundreds of cars passing through this street in a short time span?

Can acceptable air quality be guaranteed to people living in the area? Is pollution going to be monitored regularly and mitigation measures taken if safety standards are exceeded?