Infrastructure Malta is doubling the width of the main road which links Qormi with Luqa.

Site clearance has started for the road to be widened to four lanes from the current two.

Transport Minister Ian Borg said the €9.5m project will include crash barriers, LED lighting, footpaths, safer bus lay-bys, landscaped areas and a 1-kilometre segregated cycle track which will link with the cycle lane introduced in Aviation Avenue.

The project will be implemented in phases to avoid inconveniences as much as possible. When the new lanes are finished, they will start being used while the old ones are closed and rebuilt.

The project includes 1.6 kilometres of underground water, internet and telecommunication services and a new rainwater system.

The minister said the works, in Triq Ħal Qormi and Triq San Tumas, were important especially because this was one of the main routes to the airport, the Ħal Far Industrial Estate, the Freeport and other businesses.