Just over a third of the works on the new Kirkop tunnels and Airport Intersection Project have been completed, Infrastructure Malta said on Tuesday.

Transport Minister Ian Borg visited the site on Tuesday morning and said the first new lanes will be opened in the second quarter of next year. The new lanes will be on the flyover taking traffic towards the Kirkop tunnels.

He said the project will offer easier and safer connections to Luqa, Gudja, Birżebbuġa, Kirkop, Imqabba, Qrendi, Żurrieq and Safi. Access to Malta International Airport and Malta Freeport will be improved.

He said the works will not impact archaeological remains at Ħal-Resqun and the site will remain open for archaeologists as it was before the project began.

Archaeologists approved by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage are following and supervising all excavation works.

An impression of how the project will look like on completion.

The project was announced in 2019 and works were taken in hand this year.

Two tunnels are being built beneath the Gudja roundabout near the airport to link the south and northbound carriageways of Triq L-Avjazzjoni and Triq Ħal Far, allowing road users travelling to and from the airport, Birżebbuġa, the Freeport and Ħal Far to bypass the roundabout.

The roundabout will be rebuilt to improve access from Gudja to Għaxaq and northbound traffic flows from Kirkop tunnels to Triq L-Avjazzjoni.

Above it, a flyover will bridge the southbound carriageway of Triq L-Avjazzjoni Avenue with Triq L-Ewwel Titjira, towards the Kirkop Tunnels. Motorists heading to Kirkop, Mqabba, Qrendi, Żurrieq and Safi will no longer need to go through the roundabout to get to the Kirkop tunnels.