Reductions in travel time and vehicle emissions as a result of the planned Central Link road upgrade project will be largely cancelled out by increases in the number of cars in the coming decades, environmental studies show.
Infrastructure Malta says the project will halve travel time and improve air quality but data shows that, with thousands of additional cars added to the stretch of road in the same time period, the upgrade alone will not be enough to improve on the current state of affairs, merely to maintain the status quo.
Traffic studies forming part of the EIA found that if the upgrade was not carried out, peak morning travel times would increase nearly three times over by 2030 and more than eight times over by 2045.
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Even with the project in place, travel times will not be reduced below 2019 levels and will, in fact, increase marginally.
Similarly, air quality studies indicate that pollutant levels in the area will increase substantially if the project is not implemented – 40 per cent for particulate matter (PM10) and 30 per cent for nitrogen dioxide by 2045 – due to massive low-speed queues increasing fuel consumption.
The proposed network upgrade should not be considered as a final solution
If the upgrade is carried out, current emission levels, which already exceed threshold limits, will remain largely stable until 2045, the data shows. “With a present rate of 33 new cars being introduced on Maltese roads every day, the capacity of the upgraded roads will eventually be reached unless the availability and use of alternative/public modes of transport is amplified,” the study points out.
“The proposed network upgrade should not be considered as a final solution for existing traffic needs in the area but should be seen in parallel with other initiatives that aim to encourage the use of alternative/public transport, leading towards long-term sustainable solutions.”
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The assessment also references various scientific articles citing “clear evidence that new or expanded roads rapidly fill with displaced or induced traffic, offsetting any short-term gains in eased traffic flows”. If approved, the Central Link project will see the authorities rebuild 13 junctions, removing four traffic lights systems and adding over seven kilometres of new lanes along a 4.3-kilometre road corridor.
According to the EIA, construction is planned to start in March and last 18 months.
The project also introduces facilities for alternative modes of travel, including safe pedestrian footpaths, improved bus lay-bys and the longest segregated cycle track in the Maltese Islands.
Overall, the EIA concludes that the project’s beneficial impacts far outweigh its negative outcomes, particularly in terms of accessibility and air quality, as traffic bottlenecks will be reduced and the efficiency of the public transport system improved due to shorter travel times.
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It notes that a large area of agricultural land – nearly the size of three football pitches – will be permanently lost to cater for the new and widened roads, although it adds that this is 57 per cent less than what originally envisaged in the 2006 local plan.
Long stretches of rubble walls will be disassembled and reused as cladding in the border walls, while large amounts of soil will be excavated, causing “a permanent destruction of ecological features”, the study adds.