Sir Paul Boffa Avenue in Paola will soon be ready to test a ‘tidal system’ intended to ease traffic congestion.

Transport Malta is finalising infrastructural works on the busy road, the first to get the system.

Last week, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced in Parliament that the tidal traffic system would be introduced as an experiment to alleviate traffic.

Under the system, lanes are allocated according to the direction of the heaviest traffic. A four-lane road could, for example, have three lanes dedicated to north-bound traffic during the busiest times in the morning and the opposite in the evening.

A Transport Malta spokesman said the demand for more capacity on the roads was ever on the rise but it was often difficult to meet this demand due to financial constraints and limits of the sites themselves. Using tidal flow lanes would provide this much-needed additional capacity.

The newly-created tidal lane in Paola will be open to traffic heading to Valletta from 9pm to 2pm and then switch directions between 2pm and 9pm.

Read more in the Times of Malta.