The Central Link project is attracting more traffic to Attard’s centre to the detriment of residents’ quality of life, the Green Party said on Saturday.
Speaking at a press conference in Attard, ADPD’s spokespersons Carmel Cacopardo and Ralph Cassar said the Central Link project failed to adhere to the modern principles applied in European countries, whereby roads encourage sustainable mobility while supporting and improving the quality of life of communities.
“In Mdina Road we can see that traffic remained heavy even though this was meant to become a secondary road since additional lanes have been built as part of the Central Link project. Instead of a more sustainable use of space, this has simply led to more traffic pollution,” Cassar said.
“The roads that have been designed to supposedly ease the traffic flow and prioritise speed are attracting more traffic to the residential and narrow streets of Attard’s centre to the detriment of the residents’ quality of life, resulting in more dangerous roads” he continued.
The €55 million Central Link project, inaugurated at the end of last month involved the rebuilding of roads linking the Mrieħel bypass to Rabat.
The project has been mired in controversy, with environmental activists decrying the large number of mature trees that were to be uprooted to make way for wider lanes.
Cacopardo pointed out that the modern vision of sustainable mobility and urban street design had not reached the Maltese shores since roads should not focus on cars but on people and communities.
An example of the project’s short-sightedness was that the bicycle racks which had been installed on the Warda 1 Bus Stop a few years ago were removed.
“If the Central Link project was truly based on modern principles, it would have included open spaces for pedestrians, secure passageways for bicycles and a dedicated bus lane for public transport,” Cacopardo said.
“Instead this road has simply extended the new lanes of the Central Link project with cars and speed a priority resulting in a road which is not people friendly,” he underlined.
He added that the road should have been designated for low speeds, giving priority to alternative means of transport, and there should have been open urban spaces and trees making the road more attractive instead of this desert of tarmac.
“Instead, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Transport have given us: high speeds and continuous traffic, priority for cars over people, a magnet for more and more traffic and a road where pedestrians are considered a hindrance and are not welcome. This counters completely the modern vision for urban zones around Europe,” he said.
Widening roads will not solve traffic congestion
Cacopardo explained further that while traffic congestion on our roads is a major problem, unfortunately those responsible for our transport policy seem not to be aware that this congestion is not due to the length or width of our roads but due to the number of cars on the road.
“Instead of a modern vision, what we have in Malta are years of a short-sighted PLPN mentality, which has brought us roads which increase congestion and pollution and a vicious circle of road building which cause more congestion,” he pointed out.
“This phenomenon is well documented, but some don’t bother to keep themselves up-to-date,” he said.