Plans to reroute traffic through an underpass beneath Floriana’s Triq Sant’Anna have been deemed unfeasible, while the prospect of a tunnel beneath the San Ġwann main road is being revisited, Project Green has said.
However, ongoing studies hope to find alternative solutions to pedestrianise both areas, the agency said.
The long-touted pedestrianisation of the main thoroughfare leading into Valletta was an electoral pledge in the Labour Party’s 2022 electoral manifesto, which promised to turn the road into a garden with traffic rerouted underground.
It was first proposed a decade ago, when a group of (at the time) young architects developed a concept to transform the area into an open-air garden.
But two years since it was formally announced, infrastructural work on the project has yet to start, with its initial design now set to change to redirect traffic through neighbouring streets without digging underground.
A Project Green spokesperson told Times of Malta that “following a review of past archaeological and geotechnical studies, it was concluded that an underpass is not feasible”.
The agency said a traffic impact assessment study is under way “to explore possibilities and opportunities for this project”. The study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
The Floriana underpass may not be the only one on the chopping block.
'No final decisions taken' yet
Plans to direct traffic underground in San Ġwann as part of the area’s pedestrianisation could also be up in the air, with Project Green saying it is “seriously considering avoiding an underpass in order to avoid construction waste and inconvenience”.
“The matter is being actively reassessed and no final decisions have been taken at this stage,” the spokesperson said.
Design plans to transform San Ġwann’s Vjal ir-Rihan into a 7,200-square metre green space were submitted to the Planning Authority late last year, nine months after the project was announced.
At the time, the agency had said that traffic would be diverted through an underpass, with underground parking spaces set to also be built.
Despite the changes to initial plans, Project Green says it remains “fully committed to the pedestrianisation plans for both Floriana and San Ġwann”, describing pedestrianisation as “a key objective of both projects”.
“While we are reassessing certain aspects of the projects, the overall commitment to these goals remains unchanged,” the spokesperson said.
The agency told Times of Malta that while it is unable to establish a timeline for the Floriana project until the ongoing studies are completed early next year, the first phase of the San Ġwann project – the car park – will be completed in the third quarter of 2026, with the full project expected to be ready by the end of 2028.