Between 50 and 60 kilometres of additional cycling routes are planned for Malta’s road network in a five-year, €35 million investment plan, Infrastructure Minister Aaron Farrugia has revealed.

The strategic investment will encourage people to choose greener modes of transport and active mobility, Farrugia said. 

The initial routes will cover key intersecting locations, from Valletta to Msida and Ħamrun as well as from Marsa to Valletta. The routes will later be expanded.

Existing sidewalks will be widened and renovated, pedestrian crossings improved and new cycling infrastructure connected to public transport. 

“Collectively, these interventions will help us continue to move towards a transport system that integrates the various modes of mobility,” Farrugia said. 

Infrastructure Malta CEO Ivan Falzon said the primary aim was to move cyclists away from main roads and establish continuous cycle lanes that could take people from point A to point B.

"The intention is for the routes to be used by pedestrians as well as by scooters and cyclists"

“Right now the majority of cycle lanes are always next to arterial roads, so they’re in traffic with other vehicles,” Falzon said. 

“If we can add infrastructure that creates a new route away from the bulk of traffic then it’s taking it away from the most dangerous element of travel.” 

He said some of these routes already exist and it was simply a matter of connecting them to the right infrastructure or of upgrading and revamping the areas.

The intention is for the routes to be used by pedestrians as well as by scooters and cyclists. 

In an interview last June, the president of the cycling NGO Rota, Daniel Vella, said safety was the main reason why more people did not commute by bicycle. He called for better infrastructure to protect all road users.

A working map of the additional cycle lanes. Phase 1 will go to tender in March, focusing on the Valletta and Floriana area.