Motorists heading for Għadira Bay on Wednesday morning were stuck in an hour-long traffic jam in Mellieħa as they waited for a stretch of freshly-laid asphalt to dry.

The traffic jam started from the top of Mellieħa hill all the way down to the Seabank Hotel.

Traffic started from atop the hill in Mellieħa all the way down to the Seabank Hotel.

"It took us an hour just to crawl down the street, and we are only halfway down," one motorist told Times of Malta.

"People were getting out of their cars to smoke by the side of the road."

Traffic began to accumulate in Mellieħa at around 10am on Wednesday.

A layer of asphalt was laid during the night on the two northbound lanes to Ċirkewwa and it needed to dry before the road could be reopened for traffic, a source at Infrastructure Malta explained.

Asphalt requires curing, generally two to three hours. If laid at an incline, a curvature or other stress areas, workers allow four to five hours.

Some of the traffic was diverted to an alternative lane but could not keep up with the flow. 

Workers laid the final layer of asphalt from the Danish Village roundabout all the way to Armier roundabout.

Most of the work was completed during the night last night.

Għadira Bay is currently a construction zone, as works continue on an €8 million embellishment project covering the promenade and the road from the Seabank Hotel roundabout to the roundabout near the red tower.

Workers felt they needed to wait longer for the new asphalt to fully dry before they could allow traffic through.

The southbound road from Ċirkewwa to Mellieħa previously had two lanes and its reduction to a single lane has raised fears of traffic congestion, especially due to traffic from the Gozo ferries.

One motorist told Times of Malta it took him an hour to move just half-way down the hill.

Infrastructure Malta plans to open the southbound route by the first days of June. Works will then stop for the summer and the third and final phase will begin in October. The final phase will mainly focus on completing the promenade furniture and finishings, but will include a final road rebuilding on the northbound stretch from the Seabank Hotel to the Danish Village. 

The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of next March.

Correction: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that the entire project would be finished by June.