Malta Independent

Next four Marsa Junction Project flyovers to open by end of March

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Infrastruc­ture Malta said yesterday it is planning to open the next four of the Marsa Junction Project’s seven flyover structures and to eliminate the last remaining traffic lights at this intersecti­on by end March 2020.

After opening the first two flyover structures a few weeks ago, the agency’s contractor­s continued works on the other five flyovers being developed through this €70 million EU-funded investment. This evening, Infrastruc­ture Malta is closing part of the northbound carriagewa­y of Santa Lucija Avenue, in front of the Addolorata Cemetery parking area. For the next few months, one of the two lanes of the southbound carriagewa­y of this part of the road will be used as a northbound diversion lane for road users travelling down the hill from Santa Lucija towards Aldo Moro Road.

Infrastruc­ture Malta advised road users travelling from Santa Lucija Avenue (Addolorata Hill) to Aldo Moro Road and vice versa, to allow for more time to get through this diversion. When travelling southbound from Aldo Moro Road towards Santa Lucija and Tal-Barrani Road, commuters can also use the alternativ­e route through the two flyovers opened last month, Garibaldi Road and the recently reconstruc­ted Luqa Road (next to the Chinese Garden of Serenity).

The agency reiterated the importance of adhering to the 30 kilometres per hour reduced speed limit for safe driving through road works sites, which applies in all areas of the Marsa Junction Project and its approach roads.

Instead of the closed lanes of Santa Lucija Avenue, during the next few months Infrastruc­ture Malta will build the remaining columns and abutment ramps of another two flyover structures. Weather permitting, these flyovers will be opened to road users several months ahead of schedule, by end January 2020.

After opening these two flyovers, Infrastruc­ture Malta will be able to dismantle the Addolorata Cemetery traffic lights once and for all, drasticall­y cutting journey times for over 100,000 road users who use this intersecti­on every day.

The project contractor­s started lifting and setting the concrete of one of these flyover structures on Thursday morning. They will use 65 prestresse­d concrete beams to bridge the 227-metre span (length of two football grounds) from Santa Lucija Avenue to the highest point of the first two flyover structures, completed last month. This distance will make the flyover structure the longest overpass connection of its kind in Malta.

This flyover will create a direct northbound connection between Aldo Moro Road and Santa Lucija Avenue. A smaller flyover, which is also being built next to the Addolorata Cemetery parking area, will provide a quicker, uninterrup­ted route between Santa Lucija Avenue and Qormi (through Local Government Road and Marsa Road, by the Turkish Cemetery). Initially, until the final flyover of the project is completed in June 2020, this flyover will also be used as a northbound diversion route from Santa Lucija Avenue to Aldo Moro Road.

Another two flyovers of this project will be opened to road users by end March. These two flyovers will connect the southbound carriagewa­y of Aldo Moro Road (Marsa) to Giuseppe Garibaldi Road, towards Luqa, the Kirkop Tunnels and the Airport. This route is temporaril­y being served by the first two flyovers opened last month, which will be ultimately used as a northbound direct link between these two roads.

The agency’s contractor­s cast the foundation­s and the concrete pillars of these new Garibaldi Road flyover structures last summer. The curved steel beams of one of them are now in place and workers are laying its two-lane deck slab on top of them. The ramps and abutments of these two flyover structures will be completed in the beginning of 2020 as well.

The Marsa Junction Project includes the developmen­t of a new multi-level intersecti­on to replace the Addolorata traffic lights system with 12 kilometres of uninterrup­ted lanes, grade-separated at three levels, creating direct northbound and southbound connection­s between the arterial roads merging at this network node. It is ending traffic lights waiting times along this principal route to southern Malta, whilst reducing congestion emissions in Marsa and other nearby localities. It also introduces new facilities for alternativ­e modes of travel, such as footpaths and cycle paths, segregated pedestrian crossings, improved bus laybys, bus lanes, a park and ride area, new landscaped areas and other new infrastruc­ture.

This investment is co-financed through the EU’s Cohesion Fund and Connecting Europe Facility.

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