Infrastructure Malta has promised it will put in place “sufficient diversion lanes and alternative route signage” to avoid chaos at the Kirkop tunnels while major roadworks are under way between April and June.
Frustrated drivers were stuck in traffic on Wednesday after one of the temporary exits, heading towards Luqa, was closed for a few hours. This led to long tailbacks, with drivers complaining of chaos in the area.
According to a spokesperson for the government’s road agency, the exit was closed “for a few hours to safely carry out certain works nearby”.
“This caused additional pressure on the other exit, towards the Kirkop tunnels, which also affected other roads merging at the airport roundabout. The airport exit was reopened a few hours later.
“While this closure was unavoidable, Infrastructure Malta is working to ensure that when its contractors require similar diversions during the final works of the new flyover, between April and June, sufficient diversion lanes and alternative route signage are in place to reduce delays and other difficulties to road users.”
It’s a joke. It has to be a joke... first thing a visitor sees when exiting the airport is loads of traffic, just on the doorstep of the building. What kind of genius at Transport Malta or IM designed this?
Infrastructure Malta plans to open the first new lanes of the Kirkop tunnels and airport intersection project (KTAIP) at the end of June, the spokesperson said.
The 300-tonne steel superstructure of the 400-metre flyover is being manufactured in Spain and will be shipped to Malta “in the coming weeks”. It will be installed above the airport roundabout.
Drivers voice frustration
But while the works are under way, drivers have been taking to social media to vent their frustration.
“A project causing this much disruption should have hundreds of workers on duty day and night to finish the projects in the least amount of time. Not five workmen who seem to be doing very little and walking up and down with barrels. Don’t you have common sense to make temporary functional alternatives before causing all this disruption? Disaster nation!” one Facebook user said.
Another wrote: “It’s a joke. It has to be a joke... first thing a visitor sees when exiting the airport is loads of traffic, just on the doorstep of the building. What kind of genius at Transport Malta or IM designed this?”
Works on the project have been under way for over a year. It is intended to better serve Luqa, Gudja, Birżebbuġa and several other localities, as well as improving access to the airport and freeport.