Infrastructure Malta is launching the second phase of the €4 million Triq Bormla project, including a new segregated cycling track and footpath along the vehicular carriageway reconstructed last year as part of the same investment.

The road will be reopened in both directions before summer. Triq Bormla, which was recently renamed Triq l-Aħħar Ħbit mit-Torok, is the main route between Żabbar and Żejtun. The one-kilometre link is also known as “tac-Cawsli”, the Maltese name for the old mulberry trees that line its central strip.

The road had been left in a state of disrepair for many years. Due to its weak foundations, parts of its surface had caved in, causing flooding and other difficulties to road users.

As part of the reconstruction project launched last year, the road is being rebuilt in a new design, including a two-lane carriageway for vehicles on one side, with segregated cycling and walking facilities on the other and a landscaped area comprising the existing mulberry trees, in between. The new layout also includes new bus lay-bys for safer public transport commutes.

Stretches of the road lie over deep disused quarries that had been refilled with construction debris and other weak materials that were not adequate for the road’s load requirements. During the first phase, these materials were excavated and replaced with retaining structures comprising 1,790 blocks of limestone and over 3,000 tonnes of concrete.

While building the foundations, Infrastructure Malta also installed 3.3 kilometres of new underground water, electricity and telecommunications distribution networks and sewage pipelines. A new 2.5 kilometre storm water system linked to an existing reservoir was also introduced to reduce the risk of flooding. A new boundary rubble wall was also built along the side of the road, to separate it from the adjacent fields.

The row of mulberry trees will be retained in its original location, as part of a landscaped area separating the vehicle carriageway from the cycling and pedestrian strip. Infrastructure Malta is planting 21 new mulberry trees, instead of 13 existing ones that had died due to a tree borer infestation several years ago.

It is also working with the environmental authorities and with a local non-governmental organisation, Wirt iz-Żejtun, to support the necessary interventions required to protect the mulberry trees that have not yet been affected by this infestation.

The project is co-financed by the European Union, as part of a European Regional Development Fund project.