A stretch of Ċensu Tabone Street, from St Julian’s to Sliema, has been closed to traffic due to underground cabling works, sparking traffic disruptions in the area.

The works are being carried out by Enemalta to strengthen the electricity distribution system.

It's no entry from the road next to Love Monument in Spinola.

The closure caused significant traffic congestion on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, with commuters reporting long delays and diversions as they attempted to exit St Julian's.

Transport Malta said part of the road will be closed between Monday and Friday, May 16 to allow Enemalta to carry out infrastructure works.

“Traffic will be diverted to alternative routes according to the signs on site,” the agency said.

Enemalta said around 13 kilometres of new underground cables are planned for installation across Sliema, Gżira and St Julian’s.

Work began on a section of Tower Road in Sliema on Monday. Traffic coming from the direction of St Julian’s is being diverted through Triq Anglu Mikiel Borg, although vehicles coming from Sliema are not affected.

A motorist described the situation on Monday night and Tuesday morning as “chaotic,” saying traffic from St Julian’s to Sliema, from the Spinola Love Sign all the way through Regional Road, was spilling out into all possible exits. A lot of the traffic chaos appears to be centred near the Neptunes Waterpolo pitch. 

By noon on Tuesday, however, traffic in the area had begun to ease and had become more localised.