Part of St Anne Street, Floriana may reduce to two lanes for pedestrian platform

Part of Floriana’s St Anne Street may be reduced to two lanes, as Project Green is proposing to implement platforms for pedestrians that will extend from the arches out onto the first lane of the road.

The platforms will be placed on the side of the road that leads to Valletta, in front of the three blocks that are located between the Lion monument and Pjazza Papa Giovanni.

The platforms will also have planters and places for people to sit.

Project Green, tasked with making urban spaces greener, revealed these plans during a public consultation meeting held on Wednesday under St Anne Street’s arches.

The proposals received praise for their attempt to embellish and bring life back to Floriana, but NGOs and residents attending the consultation expressed concern this would not solve the main problem: noise and air pollution coming from the traffic.

“We want to turn this place from a corridor that leads people out of Floriana, to somewhere where people can sit, chat, and enjoy it,” architect Ruth Cassar Galea said.

This proposal is a minor project compared to the government’s promise to convert the street into a garden and reroute traffic underground. However, Project Green stated last year that idea was unfeasible following archaeological and geotechnical studies.

Artist's impression of the initial, and no longer feasible, plan to turn St Anne Street into a garden. Photo:

Not many vehicles use the first lane

While presenting the project, Cassar Galea said that a traffic impact assessment was currently under way and preliminary studies show that not many drivers make use of the first lane in front of those three blocks.

Apart from the platforms, the main investment of the project will go towards the restoration of the buildings' facade lining the street, the Venetian flooring of the passageways, and the archways.

The project also proposes placing benches and planters at Pjazza Papa Giovanni, with the aim of bringing life back to this place.

Architect Beverley Costa said the tender for these works should be issued this year.

Once the traffic assessment is completed, Cassar Galea said they shall begin working on phase two of the project, which will include a master plan for Floriana.

They did not elaborate on what this master plan would look like, as they said that any decision would have to be based on the results of the traffic impact assessment.

The public consultation meeting. Photo: Project Green

‘Platforms will place people in danger among the traffic’

As the public consultation was held on the side of the road, at times, people struggled to follow what was being said due to the noise of the cars.

Multiple residents noted that this reflected a much wider problem, adding they are forced to deal with the noise and exhaust coming from vehicles every day.

Resident and artist Noel Galea Bason was very critical of the aesthetic of the platform, saying that it does not blend well with the architecture of the arches.

Galea Bason was also critical of a platform that places passers-by in danger amid the traffic, which residents have said is the main nuisance of the area.

“I see the platforms as being pointless. Besides placing people in danger and exposing them to the cars’ exhaust, there’s already a traffic problem. So, reducing one lane will only make it worse,” Galea Bason said.

Lack of alternative modes of transport

Martina Camilleri from NGO Friends of the Earth Malta praised the plans but commented that this proposal does not solve noise and air pollution problems.

She further pointed out that the project does not take into consideration alternative modes of transport.

A model of the proposed project. Photo: Project Green

Duane Grech, from NGO Rota, raised concerns about the current pelican crossings in place and suggested there could be more placed to prevent people from crossing dangerously.

Costa said that this might be a possibility, but they would only be able to know once a traffic impact assessment is carried out.

Floriana’s untapped tourism potential

Resident Publio Agius highlighted the importance of unlocking Floriana’s tourist potential.

“Thousands of tourists flock to Valletta, but they skip Floriana which has a lot of history and untapped tourist potential,” he said.

Agius spoke extensively about the history Floriana has to offer and suggested that people should be more exposed to this history through information and maybe even a tourist information spot.

He also suggested that Pjazza Papa Giovanni could be used to host a Christmas market.

Earlier this year, Floriana’s mayor, Nigel Holland, raised concerns about the town's small number of residents and the growing number of commercial buildings going up in Floriana instead of residential buildings.

The local council has also approved a Regeneration Plan for the town, which include incentives to tackle the persistent challenge of depopulation.