Re-opening Sliema’s Bisazza Street to vehicles might ease heavy congestion in the area, according to two traffic experts.
Hugh Arnett and Simon Micallef Stafrace said converting the popular shopping street into a pedestrian zone three years ago did not help the locality’s traffic problem.
Vehicles that used to pass through Bisazza Street are diverted through Tower Road to Qui-Si-Sana and the Midi tunnel, creating gridlock in peak hours.
This situation will be exacerbated if a development application for apartments and shops in an eight-storey complex at the Pjazzetta, Tower Road, is approved.
A traffic impact study for the Pjazzetta project highlighted that the Qui-Si-Sana/Tower Road junction “will become critical in the future forecast year” through the growth of traffic, including that generated by a number of recently approved major developments. Transport Malta did not object to the project and pointed out it was “already committed” to upgrading this critical junction when required, “using the most appropriate, technically feasible design layout to minimise traffic queues and delays”.
Whatever you do there will be a gigantic bottleneck
However, Mr Arnett insisted that re-opening Bisazza Street was the only way to start tackling the problem.
“That part [Qui-Si-Sana and Tower Road] will remain a T-shaped junction – this is something we knew was going to happen when businesses and apartments were built in Tigné,” he said.
The traffic in Tower Road had already reached saturation point and, although it would be possible to widen it into three lanes, there would still be a bottleneck at the tunnels.
“The Midi tunnel should have been built with four lanes – whatever you do in the area there is going to be a gigantic bottleneck,” Mr Arnett said.
The decision to pedestrianise Bisazza Street did not consider the long-term ramifications, Mr Arnett said, and he believes it should be accessible to cars and motorcycles. Traffic calming measures could be introduced to prevent speeding.
“It does look lovely but it closed off a short cut and the roads can’t cope with everyone passing through the junction,” he added.
Similarly, Dr Micallef Stafrace said that its closure “looked good on paper” but was not practical as it made the congestion worse.
Another solution to remove vehicles from the road was to increase use of public transport.
“However, people have tight schedules and need to know that there is a reliable service,” he said.