The cost of traffic congestion for the country will hit €1.28 billion per year in 2050 if no changes to transport policies are made, according to an estimate contained in the new national transport strategy.
The 2050 strategy document prepared by Transport Malta said this figure would mean a loss of 8.2 per cent of Malta’s GDP.
Road transport was pinpointed as the main source of polluting particulate matter and noise, as well as significant levels of other pollutants like nitrogen oxides.
These effects were found to be especially severe in Malta due to the high car dependency and old car fleet, the document found.
The strategy identified shortcomings in proper planning and the lack of a holistic traffic plan coupled with the lack of an integrated transport network.
Transport Malta noted that over the last two decades, only 22km of roads, mainly in rural areas, were widened.
The “failure” of this policy has led to the development of major traffic congestion problems resulting from capacity reduction where dual carriageways bottleneck into a single carriageway, Transport Malta said.
Morning peak trips between 1990 and 2014 increased from 75,000 to 117,000, meaning an average growth in traffic of 2.3 per cent per year.
Transport Malta identified this as being a particular problem as traffic is concentrated during the peak hours, exerting “tremendous” pressure on the capacities of road transport infrastructures.
The strategy document found that the composition of traffic during the morning peak hours has remained unchanged since 1990, with the private car usage representing 83 per cent of all traffic on the roads. Over 10 per cent of the peak morning trips made involved the Valletta and Floriana areas, either as the origin of a trip or the final destination.
This amounted to 30,000 people filtering in and out of these areas during rush hour. The average length of car trips during the morning peak is 5.5km.
Maltese travellers expect that everyone else will change their travel habits so that they can continue to drive their car
The average number of car trips made by drivers on a typical weekday in Malta is 3.20, which is higher than the European average.
The strategy document also delves into the effects of climate change in Malta by 2050. It says transport planning should take into account the effects that climate change will have on the transport infrastructure.
The sea level is expected to have risen by 14cm by 2050, though this is not expected to produce “severe effects” on the Maltese road network.
The sea level rise will cause “some problems” in roads located on the coast or flood areas, or where road drainage is not properly designed and maintained, Transport Malta said.
Apart from the strategy plan, Transport Malta also launched a transport master plan leading up to 2025.
The transport plan acknowledges that historically Malta has taken a short-term approach, spanning four to five years, when it comes to transport planning and policy development.
This lack of planning led to the Maltese car usage culture becoming further ingrained with a strong reluctance to change, the plan states.
“This results in the Maltese traveller expecting that everyone else will change their travel habits so that they can continue to drive their car. Additionally there is a general lack of concern among Maltese citizens regarding the impact travel behaviour has on economic, environmental and health issues.
“The lack of integrated and holistic plans means that projects are not developed in relation to an integrated set of objectives,” the document states.
It identified the need for traffic master plans in Paceville and St Julian’s, the Mrieħel area and Sliema.
The situation in Sliema is said to be particularly bad, as at current levels of growth both Tower Road and the Strand will reach their practical operating capacities by 2025.
The transport master plan also calls for the development of a national cycling strategy as well as a plan to introduce more financial incentives to reduce the average age of cars.
One of the more radical proposals is the introduction of low emission zones for areas in which air pollution from vehicles is at dangerous levels for public health.
Access to these zones by high polluting vehicles would be regulated. The zones would be operated either by forbidding vehicles with higher emissions from entering the area or by requiring the more polluting vehicles to pay more if they enter the zone.
This measure envisages the setting up of a pilot project in St Anne Street, Floriana in order to establish the potential to extend this to other areas.
The initiative would also involve a joint study between the transport and environmental authorities to identify all the areas where air pollution from vehicles is regularly at dangerous levels. The study would analyse the different scenarios and options for access control of high polluting vehicles as well as the impact of such zones on other parts of the road network.
Traffic facts
• 83 per cent of all traffic in morning peak is from private cars.
• Morning peak hour (7.30-8.30am) accounts for 11 per cent of all daily traffic.
• Average speed of cars in peak hours: 22.4km/h in the morning and 24.9km/h in the evening.
• Average journey time by car in morning peak: 19 minutes.
• 35 per cent of morning peak trips are to work while 13.5 per cent are to a place of education.
• Average distance travelled by car: 5.5km.
• Car drivers make an average of 3.20 trips each day.
• Average car occupancy: 1.25 persons.
• Average age of cars: 13.6 years (five years higher than EU average).
• Average of 42 cars are newly registered and average of seven scrapped each day.
• Only 2.7 per cent of car drivers pay for parking at their destination.
*Source: Transport Malta
Strategic goals
• A shift from 99.9 per cent of conventionally fuelled vehicles in 2015 to 50 per cent in 2030 and zero by 2050.
• A shift from 17 road accident fatalities in 2015 to eight in 2030 and zero in 2050.
• A bus average speed at the morning peak of 14.8km/h in 2015 to 20km/h in 2030.