Traffic management plans should treat the island as one big city rather than a country having different localities, according to a European Commission traffic policy expert.

Guus van de Schouw, from the Transport Directorate, yesterday urged local policymakers to draft transport plans that treated the island like a city and the different localities should be considered as districts rather than independent areas.

He was speaking during a roundtable conference on the impact and cost of road traffic in Malta, which discussed the results of a University of Malta study on the worsening congestion plaguing motorists.

The study found Maltese roads to be among the most congested in Europe with drivers spending as many as 52 hours stuck in traffic every year. It was also found that drivers experienced about 17 seconds of delay for every kilometre driven, three times the European average (six seconds).

Transport Minister Joe Mizzi, who attended the conference, said the way solutions to traffic problems were developed was changing. This was particularly important because the infrastructure was not keeping up with the heavy traffic burden.

“The problem was repeatedly ignored in the past but we have realised it today and we are trying to fix it. I understand drivers’ frustrations and this is why we are working day and night to find a solution,” he said.

Mr Mizzi said the government had some success over the past few months, particularly with medium-term solutions, such as the opening of the Marsa ship building road. Other less successful initiatives, meanwhile, had been scrapped and taken back to the drawing board.

Larger projects, like the €80 million Kappara junction, would play a major role in easing traffic. Traffic in the area was costing the government about €5 million every year.

The university study found that traffic was costing the taxpayer big. The loss of productivity due to congestion cost a staggering €118 million in 2012.

Traffic accidents meant a further €84 million in disability benefits and loss of productivity while the environmental impact of air pollution cost the country €14 million. The cost of mitigating the resulting climate change was €47 million.

In total, the study said, traffic cost the country an extra €247 million every year and if the government failed to ease the problem, the bill would grow by €43 million over the next five years.