Updated 6pm with Infrastructure Malta reply

Frustrated Manikata residents who feel “hijacked” in their own village, have come together to fight mounting traffic.

The traffic's “total mismanagement” and blocked roads are taking a toll on their lifestyle, they claim.

Once a hamlet, Manikata has been turned into a “heavy traffic highway”, with vehicles passing through narrow, rural, residential roads, without speed ramps, zebra crossings, or flat roundabouts, “risking a tragedy in the making”, the newly formed Manikata Residents Association said.

Its chairman Mario Vella Petroni said some 300 residents felt compelled to form the association due to the recent state of abandonment and neglect of their locality – a small community of families with young children.

Heavy vehicles passing through the rural roads were higher than the balconies, he said, adding that “nobody really cares”.

Residente were meanwhile left “stranded” because an important road - Route 116 - has been closed off for two months. This meant that to get to St Paul’s Bay, residents would have to either drive through Mellieħa, Mġarr and Mosta, Vella Petroni said.

Ghajn Tuffieħa Road blocked off, leaving residents “stranded”. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Calling out the “incompetence” of the transport authorities, he said that despite a sign at Għajn Tuffieħa Road (Route 116) last weekend indicating that residents and public transport would be able to drive through, it was still blocked off to everyone, resulting in more chaos.

The association has written to the Prime Minister, ministers and MPs from both parties, the Mellieħa local council and transport entities to bring to their attention the “dire way of life the Manikata residents have to endure on a daily basis”.

According to the association’s calculations, around 30,000 vehicles pass through two roads in Manikata every day. In summer, this increases to 45,000 vehicles daily, it maintained.

The three entrances to Manikata, two from Route 116 – Triq il-Wilġa and Triq il-Biedja – as well as Triq il-Mellieħa, leading to the Manikata Church, had signs prohibiting entry to heavy vehicles.

The signs had been removed and never replaced by the authorities, irrespective of repeated reminders to the local council, the frustrated residents said.

A wrongly marked stop sign, which should be replaced by a flat roundabout to slow traffic down and avoid blind corners, according to the association of Manikata. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

'Sheer laissez-faire attitude unprecedented'

Other issues include wrong stop signs at the top of Triq il-Ħarruba, which was never a road but just a passage, they continued.  

“We have informed the local council about this and have also suggested a small painted roundabout for an easier flow of traffic as there are two blind spots and vehicles keep shooting headstrong up this road. But to no avail.”

Roads in Manikata were “crying out loud” for zebra crossings, particularly near the church and the playground, where elderly residents and kids frequently crossed.

“We know there are solutions to these issues but no one in authority wants to listen or wants to start a discussion to agree on time frames to resolve them,” the association wrote.

Major construction in Mellieħa earmarked for the very near future would have a further negative impact on traffic passing through Manikata, the residents pre-empted, adding that this desperately needed to be addressed before things took a turn for the worse.

“The sheer laissez-faire attitude of the authorities, including the local council, and the lack of empathy towards us citizens and residents is unprecedented,” the association stated.

While the MRA would welcome a meeting with the authorities and looked forward to “positive action”, its next step would be to inform residents and the public of the constitutional measures it would be taking to safeguard their interests, it warned.

A spokesperson for Infrastructure Malta (IM) said traffic management issues in residential areas were the responsibility of local councils. 

He said that the partial closure of route 118, not 116, was necessary to complete road and wall rebuilding works "along the popular summer destination".

The IM works started as planned after the summer period following completion of major utility works earlier this year, he said. 

"The current closure, with access to residents kept throughout, is expected to last 7-8 weeks, with other phases of works along the same route scheduled to follow immediately after," he said.

"Works on this road are scheduled to be fully completed before May 2024, in time for the summer peak."