Parts of the island will face gridlock tonight when major arterial roads are closed off to accommodate a festa fireworks display, traffic management expert Hugh Arnett has warned.
“With all the roadworks going on at the moment, closing off other major roads could easily bring traffic across the island to a near standstill,” he said.
Mr Arnett was reacting to a police statement issued on Thursday announcing that the Mrieħel bypass, Marsa-Ħamrun bypass and parts of the Regional Road, including the tunnels, would be closed off tonight for the fireworks of the Santa Venera feast.
A veteran traffic expert, Mr Arnett said roadworks such as the Coast Road revamp were already putting too much stress on traffic management systems.
Closing off major roads for fireworks is a19th-century decision.It simply does not make sense
In light of this, he believes it would have made sense to cancel this year’s display.
“Closing off major roads for something like fireworks is a 19th-century decision. It simply does not make sense, especially at a time like this,” he said.
The permit to close the roads between 8.30pm and 11.30pm – on a busy Saturday summer night – was issued by the police earlier this week. In fact, the measure could not be more ill-timed, with thousands expected to flock to mass events across the island, including the usually well-attended Farsons Beer Festival in Ta’ Qali.
The police stopped issuing such permits back in 2008 when the management at Mater Dei Hospital, which opened its doors that year, complained that closing the Santa Venera bypass and Regional Road would hinder ambulances.
However, the new police administration had a change of heart, issuing permits for last year’s festa and that of 2013.
Police said that, while the roads would be closed, special arrangements had been made to ensure emergency services such as ambulances would not be hindered.
If an ambulance or any other emergency service needed to pass through one of the closed roads, a separate route would either be made available or the closed roads would be temporarily reopened and any fireworks suspended.
The closure of the Santa Venera tunnels and other roads in the area will allow the Għaqda tan-Nar 26 ta’ Lulju village club to let off fireworks from a field next to the busy arterial road.
The law prohibits fireworks from being lit within 100m or 200m of any roads, depending on the size of the fireworks.
However, by temporarily closing off the road, the police will have technically stopped the thoroughfare from being a road.
Repeated attempts to contact the Santa Venera fireworks group head and town mayor Stephen Sultana proved unsuccessful by the time of writing.
Questions sent to Transport Malta had not been answered by the time of writing.