Roadworks meant to improve access to two private schools in Mġarr pose a risk to several mature trees and rubble walls, and could even be damaging to underlying cart ruts, environmentalist Alan Deidun has warned.

The narrow road just off the Mġarr bypass leads to two independent schools situated there.

Traffic jams in the area – long known for congestion early in the morning and afternoon – are expected to resume next month as some 2,000 students return to school when the summer holidays end.

Back in April, this newspaper reported that Imselliet Street, the road leading to the schools, would be widened and surfaced after a traffic impact statement was carried out to identify what had been causing the problem.

At the time, the transport authority said it had submitted plans to the planning watchdog but acknowledged that there could be issues due to archaeological remains in the area.

These included cart ruts and the fact that not all land was owned by the State.

While both schools try continuously to tackle the traffic issue, parents believe the only solution is to widen the road

Dr Deidun said the transport authority had been forging ahead with works and questioned whether these were even covered by a permit.

Questions sent by Times of Malta to the authority were not answered.

While both schools try continuously to step up efforts to tackle the traffic issue there, parents believe the only solution to the problem is to widen the road.

Last year, those picking up their children from the schools in the afternoon took to parking their cars on the main road, as they were no longer allowed inside school premises before 2.45pm.

The road widening exercise is meant to divert parents’ cars from the schools to the country lane, thus clearing them from the bypass.

Parents who spoke to this newspaper have said they are worried an ambulance or police would not be able to make it through to the schools in an emergency due to a backlog of cars waiting to get into the school.

In February, the wall of a hall still under construction at one school collapsed onto an access road, flattening four cars and damaging others. While nobody was injured, the incident fuelled the parents’ concerns about lack of access.

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