Transport Minister Austin Gatt told Parliament on Monday that rather than building an overpass across Mrieħel bypass, what was needed to improve safe access to Qormi for residents of Tal-Blat housing estate was to improve the area of Mill Street.
Speaking during a debate on a motion by Labour MP Marie-Louise Coleiro, Dr Gatt said none of the MPs were traffic experts and the worst thing they could do was to impose solutions.
Mrs Coleiro Preca retorted that nobody presumed to be a traffic expert. The motion itself was calling for consultations with the local council and residents but first the technical expert must carry out consultations to see to the needs of the residents and the workers of the industrial estate.
The motion was defeated by an odd vote in 69 after a division.
Moving the motion to guarantee safe crossing of the Mrieħel bypass by residents of Tal-Blat in Qormi, Mrs Coleiro Preca said the road had claimed both pedestrians and drivers, especially young ones. However, the government failed to take any action.
Mrs Coleiro Preca also accused the government that it did not have any plan on the area. The bypass was built after more than 50 families had established their residences in Tal-Blat. Originally, this had to be a housing area with few small industries but industry had taken over.
She belied claims by Transport Malta that only 42 people a week cross the bypass and thus did not warrant the costs to put up the footbridge. Mrs Coleiro Preca said she had personally conducted a door-to-door survey and found that the number was much higher. She also referred to a number of parliamentary questions which, she said, indicated that those who answered them had never visited the area. Suggesting that the people should use Mill Street would expose them to more risks because this would lead them to a dangerous junction.
To exacerbate matters, the area lacked a public transport service despite the influx of workers and the first priority of residents was to own a car. Walking from Commerce Street to Cannon Road would carry more risks as there were no pavements and electricity, and the area was infested with rodents and dogs. The Housing estate, she said, has been turned into a roundabout.
TM had also constructed a guard along the middle of the pavement in the bypass. She was told that the pavement was not meant for pedestrians as this was in an arterial road. Weren’t pavements in December 13 Road in Marsa, in Mdina Road in Qormi used by pedestrians? Why was the Mrieħel bypass so different??
Mrs Coleiro Preca also castigated TM for saying that a bridge would be too costly and that traffic lights were not feasible. Were there not traffic lights in other arterial roads? This was not a question of money but a question of fulfilling a public need.
Nationalist MP Peter Micallef said the motion was a sensitive one as it affected lives. However, one needed to look at the bigger picture. The government was not insensitive and had at heart the lives of all citizens, investing a great deal in health through educational programmes.
Drivers now had better facilities in arterial roads but one needed to understand what needed to be done to reduce fatal traffic accidents. He called for drivers, particularly young ones, to show more maturity on the road.
Security cameras were being abused and one needed to understand that the intention of these was to safeguard and educate drivers. He also called for more courtesy by pedestrians in the use of zebra crossings, and public transport.
Stefan Buontempo (PL) said that the Mrieħel bypass provided better access between the north and south.
No community should be at a disadvantage or feel discriminated. Expressing his solidarity with the 300 suffering residents in the Tal-Blat area, he said local councils were being turned into pressure groups.
Dr Buontempo referred to a 2002 Mepa document suggesting the creation of an underpass. In 2005, then Infrastructure Minister Jesmond Mugliett said the overpass bridge was discussed, the tender called for, and this should have been completed by 2007.
Labour MP Charles Mangion said the safety issue over a bypass which had divided a village in two could not be discussed by the local council with the relevant authority. Safety precautions for pedestrians must take precedence, especially where towns and village borders were adjoining each other. He said that it was practically impossible for joggers to exercise if not in traffic-infested roads.
Dr Mangion said that TM’s contention that the bridge was not feasible because few people crossed the bypass was an overturning of priorities where the value of life was concerned. How would one value life?
Anthony Agius Decelis (PL) said that it was during such moments that one could tell who really believed in social inclusion. This was a noble motion and was a manifestation of principles underlying the belief that all persons were equal.
Opposition spokesman on the infrastructure Charles Buhagiar said that the motion was similar to that discussed last year on Dr Anton Buttigieg Street in Żejtun which also claimed lives.
It seemed that planners did not take into account the fact that there would be the need for people to cross to go to the other side of the village where bypasses divided a locality in two.
Through the new scheme extensions, Mepa had now allowed the Żebbuġ bypass to shoulder a residential area. Residents there had a problem to cross to the other side. The same applied for the St Paul’s Bay bypass. For farmers to cross from the village to their fields, pelican lights were installed. But, Mr Buhagiar said, such lights were not secure in bypasses meant for fast-moving traffic.
Concluding, Mr Buhagiar called on the ADT to undertake a survey to identify such traffic black spots and take action accordingly.
Ċensu Galea said the debate provided the opportunity to go beyond the motion itself and talk about security measures to avoid black spots. We were facing continuous conflict and a situation where bypasses were built in certain areas in which a number of people, albeit small were being affected.
Using as an example a three-kilometre road from Naxxar to San Ġwann, he said that there were more than 30 access roads onto this road and this was not feasible.
During the last years a number of people had suffered intense life-long traumas due to the loss of lives caused by fatal traffic accidents. One needed to avoid and curb such incidents and emphasise on pedestrian responsibilities to avoid activities in arterial roads and observe traffic rules in a more effective manner.
The time had come where pedestrians crossing haphazardly at pelican lights, zebra crossings and traffic lights should be booked for jaywalking. It was up to the people to make roads a safer place.
One alternative for residents was to pass from Mill Street. However, one needed to consider whether alternative access roads were safe or not.
Concluding, Mr Galea called for an improvement in the design of roads, as well as more responsibility in the roads.
Transport Minister Austin Gatt said that no MP was a traffic expert and he would not impose a solution. The only thing he would insist was that a decision was taken.
Tal-Blat was already built before the bypass came into being and residents had to go through Mill Street to go to the village for their daily needs. The bypass did not change this pattern. It did not isolate the area but residents preferred to save some 200 metres.
It was not feasible to alter a bypass to satisfy residents’ needs and the same went for the junction in the same bypass leading to the Attard industrial estates.
It was an internationally-accepted norm that four-lane roads should not be interrupted by junctions and traffic lights. The Mrieħel bypass was taking 42,000 vehicles a day, linking Marsa to the north. Any intervention should be made at Mill Street as suggested by the technical experts.
Referring to the criticism by Mrs Coleiro Preca regarding the number of people crossing the bypass, Dr Gatt said that the TM surveys were made during the morning and afternoon. Between 80 and 90 pedestrians crossed Mill Street daily while only 12, or two an hour, crossed the Mrieħel bypass.
The alternative to the proposed bridge, he said, was to be found 300 metres away and was already being used by the Tal-Blat residents. He reiterated that decisions should be taken by technical experts which were competent enough.
Dr Gatt said a zebra crossing or pelican lights did not make any sense because traffic moving at 80 kph would not be calmed within a short distance. Insofar as the underpass was concerned, the minister said experience had shown that the one at the Birkirkara bypass was not used.
He pointed out that an overhead bridge would also require a 100-metre approach on both sides for wheelchair users.
Dr Gatt said the solution laid in impeding people from crossing the bypass and use the present alternative at Mill Street.
Winding up, Mrs Coleiro Preca said that contrary to December 13 Road, there was no access for residents to cross from one side of Qormi to the other. She hoped that another 10 years would not have to pass for an administrative measure, which should have been taken 20 years ago. Safety was of paramount importance.
The 80 people crossing Mill Street were also risking their lives because this was part of a carriageway coming from Attard. What was the government waiting for if for Dr Gatt and the experts this was the only alternative? she asked.
She said the motion was not aimed to create a conscience on the issue but for the government to take action in the best interest of the residents and those working there.
Referring to walkers and joggers at the Mrieħel Bypass, Mrs Coleiro Preca said those who used to exercise at the Marsa track must now pay to use it. Minister Dolores Cristina had suggested they start using the track at the school at tal-Ħandaq. This, the Labour MP said, meant that residents would have to walk two miles to cross Qormi.
She also urged for the pavement to be widened.
Mrs Coleiro Preca compared the Tal-Blat residents to the Palestinians, divided between Qormi and St Venera with unsafe roads on both sides. She said that the community was aging and some were becoming prisoners in their own homes as not even their streets were safe because of the heavy vehicles passing through them.
Both Mrs Coleiro Preca and Mr Galea paid tribute to Major Peter Ripard, the expert in traffic management wounded in the bomb blast last month at the Transport Malta offices.