Sliproads and intersections at the Regional Road in Santa Venera will be widened to facilitate the merging of traffic and ease congestion, Transport Minister Ian Borg announced on Wednesday.

He said the €7 million project will see the area between the Santa Venera tunnels and the tunnels at Tal-Qroqq revamped, with the road and the bridge across Valley Road widened.

The works are part of an exercise by Infrastructure Malta to address traffic bottlenecks.

Seven junctions along the road from the Coast Road to Marsa are also being realigned.

There will be 1.1 kilometres of new lanes added to the road in total, he added.

The widened sliproads will ease access from Valley Road in Msida to Old Railway Road (near St Philip Hospital) and Kappillan Mifsud Street in Hamrun, an area which is frequently congested.

Other widened sliproads will make easier access to Tal-Qroqq, Mater Dei Hospital and the university.

A farm which was illegally built in the 1990s will be removed.  The owners have been informed and the Planning Authority will be taking action next week.

A number of trees will have to be moved to make way for the new lanes. They will be replanted in other areas.

The Transport Minister said planning applications for the project have been submitted, but not all permits have been issued yet. However, works that have started already focus on the existing roads and do not need a planning permit.

The whole project is earmarked for completion in the first quarter of next year.

Works will take place mostly at night, and the project will be carried out in phases so that the road will not need to be closed during the day.

The area which is set for a major upgrade.