Rerouting traffic flows and chopping residential parking slots are among suggestions made by a new transport lobby group to mitigate congestion during the Kappara junction works.
The group of major players in the transport industry, ranging from delivery companies to taxi services, was brought together by the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU and presented Transport Minister Joe Mizzi with a set of proposals on how to manage traffic during the construction of the new flyover.
The major infrastructural project is scheduled to start next month and should take at least 75 weeks to complete.
The works are expected to put more strain on the already busy road network and while the authorities moved to resurface roads in neighbouring localities to deal with added traffic, experts have been drafting plans to manage the situation.
A GRTU spokesman told the Times of Malta the major suggestion was the reconfiguration of roads with opposing traffic flows into dual carriageways.
“This would be a big change. What we are suggesting is the setting up of a circular flow. This would ensure that, although a trip may be longer in terms of distance travelled, at least standstill traffic will be minimised,” the spokesman said.
The lobby group was not set up solely to advise the authorities on the Kappara project and the spokesman said this was just one road issue the group was working on. A reaction to the suggestions is expected soon.
A member of the lobby group, who asked not to be named, said that, if the authorities ignored the proposals, he feared the traffic situation would deteriorate. “We don’t want a repeat of the traffic and poor management we saw during works on the Coast Road,” he said.
Other suggestions made by the lobby group is doing away with certain stretches of parking spots in areas around the works to widen single-lane roads. Residents who used the parking slots could be offered a service similar to park and ride, the spokesman said.
There should also be better enforcement, especially on the misuse of loading and unloading bays and irregular parking.