Traffic chaos in Victoria

Gozitans and visitors to our island are aware of the chaotic state of traffic in Victoria. Victoria local council knows about it, the ministry for Gozo knows about it and the traffic authorities know about it but nothing is being done to ease the problem.

The large number of heavy vehicles passing through Republic Street is on the increase. Can we find a way to divert these vehicles via other peripheral roads?

Quarry trucks from Gharb and San Lawrenz can be made to take the new Ghasri Road, Zebbug Road and then they can make their way by the Bastion Road, provided that the narrow lower end of this road is widened without further delay.

Vehicles making their way towards these villages can take the same route. In this way the traffic congestion can be diverted away from the city centre. The result is less damage to underlying services and old buildings, less air pollution and, above all, a smoother flow of traffic through Victoria.

One needs to mention that the circle sign in the middle of Republic Street helped the situation a bit and I have the impression that it is a better solution than the traffic lights, from a practical point of view, but unfortunately most drivers ignore it!

The second most annoying spot is Main Gate Street, where it opens into St Francis Square. Here traffic moving out of the parking area converges on heavy traffic moving up Main Gate Street and to make matters worse there are the route buses coming from Sannat, which have to go against the one-way traffic to the bus terminal.

This is the most bizarre traffic movement one can meet. To add to the confusion, the two zebra crossings found here are uncontrolled and pedestrians can stop the traffic at any time.

Here a set of traffic lights at both crossings can improve things considerably. In my opinion, a practical way to solve this traffic anomaly is by reversing the flow of traffic so that it will be in line with the route buses, thus Main Gate Street would be made one-way in the direction of Republic Street.

This is the most logical and practical way to eliminate the chaos one meets each time a route bus coming from Sannat tries to make its way towards the terminus.

One must applaud the policeman on duty at the Ministry for Gozo who more than once during the day leaves his post to help motorists and saves a hundred curses and stop the continuous blaring of horns of impatient drivers trying to make the one in front move. By the way, I rarely see a traffic warden in this spot.

One can imagine what can happen if an ambulance or a fire engine is caught up in this traffic mess.