Updated 11.45am

A key road linking Żabbar and Marsascala will start being rebuilt on Monday, with footpaths, laybys for buses and cycle lanes added to it.

The bypass, which comprises Triq Wied il-Għajn and Triq Żabbar, covers a roughly 1km stretch of road that provides an alternative means of linking the two southern towns to the more heavily trafficked Triq Sant Antnin route.

Roads agency Infrastructure Malta announced plans to start the road-building works in a post on social media. 

The €3.6 million project will see the road retain its existing two-lane configuration, but lanes for vehicles will be narrowed and straightened, making room for a footpath, segregated bi-directional cycle land and safer lay-bys for buses. 

Mature trees that lie on one side of Triq Wied il-Għajn will be incorporated into new landscaping strips, an IM spokesperson said. 

The project should take around one year to be completed. 

Vehicle traffic will flow as normal for the first week of works, with plans to close southbound lanes to traffic from week two to start works on that half of the road. 

Works will begin next week, with southbound lanes the first to be rebuilt. Photo: Infrastructure Malta

The works follow a first phase carried out last summer, during which utility pipelines were passed underground beneath the road surface. New stormwater catchments and a new street lighting system will also be installed as part of the works that will begin next week, with new boundary walls to be built where necessary. 

Infrastructure Malta was set up in 2017 and tasked with carrying out the government’s seven-year, €700 million pledge to rebuild the nation’s roads.

Its methods have proven controversial, with many landowners saying their land was expropriated for road widening projects with no notice or chance to appeal. 

The agency, which now falls under the purview of minister Aaron Farrugia, will soon be without a boss as CEO Fredrick Azzopardi is moving to the private sector.

Correction April 16, 2022: Pipelines, not cables were passed underground during the first phase of works.