Traffic diversions can be expected on the Mrieħel bypass during excavation works to build a new underpass, Infrastructure Malta has said.

A traffic management plan is being implemented and will be in force this month, it advised.

The new roundabout underpass next to the Malta Financial Services Authority offices will connect Mdina Road to the Mrieħel bypass.

The project is at a “detailed design stage of the building components” and the ongoing excavation has reached the point where diversions will be required, the agency said.

Major roadworks in Mrieħel, which involve a gaping hole, will result in a two-lane, 60-metre underpass beneath the new roundabout.

The work is aimed at eliminating the traffic lights at the “important” junction between Balzan, Birkirkara and Mrieħel.

The roundabout bypass was launched by Infrastructure Malta last May when the excavation of the new cut-and-cover tunnel started.

According to the IM website, the works will be completed in March next year.

Through the new tunnel, the main eastbound traffic flows – from Mdina Road, Balzan, towards the Mrieħel bypass – will be “grade-separated” from the other flows converging at the new roundabout, IM said.

By eliminating the principal eastbound and westbound flows from the roundabout, this junction is now becoming safer for road users travelling to other nearby destinations, including Mrieħel, Birkirkara and Żebbuġ (from Attard, Balzan and Lija), it maintained.

“By reducing its design speed and traffic volumes, the roundabout can now also incorporate safer pedestrian and cycling connections to Il-Ħofor Road, a rural road leading to Żebbuġ and Qormi.”

Through the improved roundabout crossings, made possible by the new underpass, pedestrians and cyclists would have another safe route from this area to Żebbuġ and Qormi, it continued.

Works are being carried out under archaeological monitoring as required by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the agency said.