Motorists who were heading for St Paul’s Bay yesterday fearing a repeat of the previous day’s massive gridlock were in for a surprise, as traffic flowed smoothly yesterday morning even though the Coast Road remained closed.

The overnight improvement was witnessed when this newspaper deployed a drone to monitor the traffic from the air during the peak morning rush hour.

Apart from the exit to Burmarrad, where vehicles were moving slowly at times, traffic around the Erba’ Mwieżeb roundabout at the entrance of St Paul’s Bay and Buġibba was flowing smoothly.

At 9am, the popular Facebook page Maltese Roads Traffic Updates reported: “Some delays were experienced, mainly in Naxxar and Birguma, however, the situation at St Paul’s Bay and Xemxija bypass was far better than yesterday.”

The Coast Road, which links St Andrews to Kennedy Grove in Qawra, is being reconstructed as part of an EU-funded, €53 million project. Though parts of it are expected to reopen tomorrow morning, works have fallen behind with the government blaming archaeological findings in the Salini area for this delay. Originally, this arterial road, stretching 7.5 kilometres, was planned to be completed before the summer.

Traffic expert Simon Micallef Stafrace told the Times of Malta the most plausible explanation for the improvement in the traffic flow yesterday was that motorists had left home earlier, so the same volume of traffic could have been spread over a longer period.

The reality is that at peak times, the duration of journeys is getting longerand motorists are slowly adapting

“Reality is that, at peak times, the duration of journeys is getting longer and motorists are slowly adapting to this situation,” he said.

Dr Micallef Stafrace said another reason could be that motorists took alternate routes, through places such as Mġarr.

In contrast, traffic along the Birguma bypass, in Naxxar and the Tal-Balal Road in San Ġwann yesterday morning was moving at snail’s pace, possibly indicating that the problem had shifted elsewhere.

A bird’s-eye view of the Erba’ Mwieżeb roundabout in St Paul’s Bay during yesterday’s morning rush hour shows traffic was moving smoothly.

A Transport Ministry spokeswoman thanked motorists for their cooperation and urged them to avoid the Coast Road area as much as possible.

Nevertheless, the transport watchdog acknowledged that the temporary closure of this arterial link was a source of inconvenience for commuters, especially those living in the northern part of the island.

On its part, the Nationalist Party yesterday issued a harshly worded statement saying commuters should not bear the brunt of the government’s incompetence.

Rather than finding stop-gap solutions and managing by crisis, the government should draw up a long-term effective plan, it said.

Acknowledging that the problem had been coming for years, the PN said decisions being taken by the present administration had made the situation worse.

It pointed out that traffic jams were costing motorists dearly, because they were contributing to an increase in fuel expenses.