Valley Road to remain closed till next week

Joe Brincat-LL.D

Sep 8th 2012, 17:24

@ Carmel Pule`. I am happy that you, with your expertise and undoubted scientific knowledge, hit on the same point I made earlier. This afternoon, just relaxing in front of the tv set, I was taken for a visit to Sardegna. I noticed the roads in the countryside. All of them had at least one side not covered with tarmac, and this to expedite the flow of rain water.

Pascal's barrel exploded because there was no vent. Am I correct ?

So whoever is responsible should take heed of your free advice.

But do not be offended if you are ignored. To be worth something, you must first be appointed "Consultant", and get well paid for it. Otherwise, even what is evident or scientifically sound, does not make an impact.

I remember commenting once on the appointment of a German consultant. What happened to him and to our money, with which he was paid ?

D Vella

Sep 7th 2012, 12:17

Valley Road . . . it's all in the name isn't it?? That road should have never been built . . . the Valley should have been left to do what nature intended it to do . . . as a VALLEY!!

Dan Jensen

Sep 7th 2012, 09:01

Well... It is a valley so I don`t hope that comes as a surprise that the road during heavy rainfall may be damaged. I`m just thrilled and ecstatic though about their initial planning of this road and area and their continuous effort in improving it and reducing the flooding in this area. I`m sure I speak for all locales that have to pass this area for work.

Disclaimer: Sarcasm may occur.

M Grima

Sep 7th 2012, 08:50

This proves the perception that Maltese roads are badly done and once a storm breaks out the bad workmanship comes onto light.

And because of the storm Valley Road will remain closed for two weeks when in China just a a few months ago it took them less time to build a bridge over a river.

Francis Farrugia

Sep 7th 2012, 08:32

Dan ix-xoghol irid isir bi hsib kbir. Min habba l-volum kbir ta` ilma li jinzel min din it-triq, f`din it-triq ma jistghux isiru kalverts ghaliex jekk isiru xorta ma joffrux soluzzjoni. Ir-raguni hija ghaliex il-kalverts ma jistghux isiru fondi minhabba il-livell tal-bahar fl-Imsida, u meta l-ilma jinzel bil-qawwi il-kalverts ifuru u nibqghu bil-problema.

Charles Muscat

Sep 7th 2012, 06:31

I wrote about this before that a good one foot of concrete has to go first before any hot mix.

Alfred Grech

Sep 6th 2012, 23:42

a lot of the water that flows down Vjal il-Qalbiena Mostin in Mosta bypasses the culverts because the road was not sloped properly towards the culverts. This road is horrible and it could have been built properly but somehow it was not - many contractors don't seem to care and have no pride in their work.

Mr Victor Borg

Sep 6th 2012, 22:21

Where I spent a lot of my time in west China, it rains more than 2,000 mm of rain every year - that's almost 4 times as it rains in Malta - and a few times every year it rains torrents, with the roads turning to rivers. Yet the tarmac is never cracked up - poor Malta, a country run by incompetent and overwieght sloths and corrupt politicians.

Arthur Mortimer

Sep 6th 2012, 21:56

As long as Malta has useless local contractors that only know how to patch roads the problem will never go away. Why on earth don't TM get advice from foreign companies that know how to build a decent road system properly? You would have thought that by now they would have woken up to the problem. As usual nobody from TM or government will read these comments. Get a grip on reality before Malta becomes a laughing stock of Europe.

Christopher Zahra

Sep 6th 2012, 21:38

Alla hares isir terramott Malta ghax ma nsibghux tarf min fejn ser nibdew.

george mercieca

Sep 6th 2012, 21:19

today i went to gozo and the all the are out of this world . it puts the malta roads to shame . how come .

Pule' Carmel

Sep 6th 2012, 20:55

Pascal's barrel was a hydrostatics experiment performed by Blaise Pascal in 1646. In the experiment, Pascal inserted a 10-m long (32.8 ft) vertical tube into a barrel filled with water. When water was poured into the vertical tube, Pascal found that the increase in pressure caused the barrel to burst.

The same happens in our roads especially in a sloped road. The water seeps under the asphalt which acts as a huge hydraulic jack. If this zone has water higher up due to the slopw of the hill running thorugh fissures the pressure will build up to one atmoshpere every 10 metres. This pressure working over the upside down area of the asphalt will lift anything, then erosion will take place and the pressure is relieved as the roads vents out the water from the higher parts.

This happens in drainage pipes in a sloped hill, the pipes will become full of water, like Pascal's barrel pressure will build up under il captelli and lifts them up.

If such underroad water is left to flow, it will lift anything including an arriva bus.

we must consider the manner in which Romans built roads. Underground drainage, first to be laud ar large boulders, then smaller boulders above and eventually the top surface. Unless the water UNDER THE SURFACE OF THE ROAD IS NONEXISTANT it will llift the surface especially if it " airtight"

colin wilcox

Sep 6th 2012, 20:16

Is there a shortage of tarmac in malta that on the road isent has thick as
people have on there private drives there is no wonder the roads are
always potholed

Joe Brincat-LL.D

Sep 6th 2012, 19:45

Fittixt ftit fuq it-toroq, ghax jien ghedt fl-imghoddi f'dak li ktibt qabel. Sibt li dak il-mod kif jaghmlu t-toroq bdewh l-aktar poplu li ghamel toroq tajbin fid-dinja, ir-Rumani.

Sibt dan li gej :Questo strato di materiale più fino, che serviva a drenare le acque, era ricoperto a sua volta dal nucleus, costituito da ghiaia grossa livellata con battipali e rulli, ed avente il dorso leggermente arcuato (a “schiena d’asino”) così come l’ultimo strato, il summum dorsum, crusta o pavimentum.

In questo modo le acque piovane defluivano nelle cunette poste ai lati della carreggiata immediatamente al di sotto dei marciapiedi (crepidines) che talora l'affiancavano.

Joe Brincat-LL.D

Sep 6th 2012, 19:21

Qed nikteb bil-Malti halli jifhmu l-Maltin, specjalment dawk li ghandhom x'jaqsmu max-xoghlijiet. M'inix espert, imma smajt u tghallimt x'kien jigri f'Malta, u anke x'jigri fl-Italja.

Triq bhal dik, jekk tiehu l-ilma u tkun mahduma qisha mejda tal-billjard, tkun tidher sabiha, imma ma jghaddix wisq zmien li ma jkunx hawn maltempata ohra u kollox, kif jghid il-Malti, jsir suf.

Fl-imghoddi t-toroq kien jaghmluhom "dahar il-hmar". Kont skantajt meta smajt l-espressjoni wkoll ghal toroq fl-Italja bhala "schiena d'asino". It-triq ikollha l-karreggjata aktar gholja mit-truf. Meta jigi l-ilma jkun hemm gandott naturali fil-gnub. Din mhux xi gherf kbir, imma gherf tal-imghoddi. Jekk issir il-hsara issir fil-gnub, ghax il-qawwa tal-ilma tizloq minn fuq "dahar il-hmar".

Inutli li jaghmlu calverts bhal ma ghamlu hdejja l-Marsa. Dawk tajbin meta tkun xita bhal tal-Ingilterra, imma mhux meta x-xita tigi bil-bulk-buying. Ara x'success kellhom il-calverts fejn qabel kien il-Kazin tal-Bandat tal-Marsa.

U hawn toroq ohra fejn ghandna naghmlu bhal pajjizi ohrajn. Fil-gnub mhux jimlew fil-konkrit jew tarmac imma jhallu faxxa ta' hamrija jew materjal iehor li jixrob l-ilma. Dan ma jistax isir fil-bliet u rhula imma barra minnhom, xejn ma hemm x'izomm li jsir.

Kien hemm xi hadd qalli li sa ftit zmien ilu f'Ghawdex kienu jaghmlu t-toroq "dahar il-hmar".

Wara kollox dan narah quddiem id-dar tieghi. It-triq taqleb u allura l-wicc taghha malajr jitbattal. Fishermen Street hija medja tal-billjard u tghidx x'tiehu fiha u kif tifga mal-inqas xita.

Kevin Muller

Sep 6th 2012, 19:15

Useless waste of our money ! As long as this road is not build well from scratch with a proper and well sized drainage system and a shape which guides the water on the side of the road instead the center, this work has be carried out again and again and again. It seems that modern streetbuilding is still rocketry science for the local contractors.

Ivan Falzon

Sep 6th 2012, 18:23

I understand that road works need to be carried out but i am having trouble understanding why Arriva buses are taking the B kara bypass instead of passing through Psaila street. The old buses used to do this so i don t see why Arriva isn t doing the same. Bkara and Balzan residents are having to walk a long way because of this.

wayne scicluna

Sep 6th 2012, 18:11

The maltese population is sick and tired of shoddy patchwork which disappears under the next downpour. Its about time that works be done properly and up to EU standard. Last time I checked, we ARE EU citizens and deserve the same road conditions.

Joseph Borg

Sep 6th 2012, 17:55

Are they installing calverts? What about water ducts? Useless repairing roads temporarily until the next thurderstorm hits Malta again. This already happened last year with the same effects.

Chris Spiteri

Sep 6th 2012, 17:55

I really wonder what would happen if one day the Government would ask Transport Malta (TM) to build either a bridge or a highway here in Malta... it will take AGES to complete, what a shame!!

B. Storace

Sep 6th 2012, 17:29

Patching won't get you anywhere..........we'll have a repeat next year more or less at the same time too.

M. Zammit

Sep 6th 2012, 17:21

Considering the easy availablity of all sorts of digital photographic equipment, why do we have to see an old photo of the area in caption? Has no action yet been taken? Is that group of people still immoveable, to date?