As children prepare to return to school, commuters across the country are dreading the return of gridlock traffic as a frustrating daily reality. 

And while the government has said it will deploy additional traffic police to try and alleviate traffic, a group of experts are hoping their collective brainpower will come up with some longer-term, more sustainable solutions to local transportation woes. 

The Project Aegle working group is an attempt to answer key questions about traffic and society's role in creating more sustainable transportation alternatives. It is the brainchild of Toyota importers the Debono Group. 

Maria Attard, Matthew Bezzina, Konrad Pule, Ranier Fsadni, Edward Mallia, Adrian Muscat and Philip von Brockdorff are among the experts who will form part of Project Aegle. 

Their task is to generate ideas that can then be translated into tangible policy proposals. 

"According to official figures, congestion costs the country 4 per cent of its GDP. This cost is expected to increase to 8 per cent by 2050," said Debono Group director  Geoffrey Debono.

"We want to generate ideas that could be taken on by government, car drivers, police and road users. We will also embark on a project aimed at collecting data on the local travel patterns to determine hot spots of traffic congestion and enable us to submit proposals, which could alleviate the current problems,” he added.

For more information, visit the Project Aegle website.