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5 Things You Need To Know About The Four New Tunnels Being Built Between St Julian’s And Pembroke

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The area between Paceville, Pembroke and St Julian’s is about be revamped big-time, meaning moving through the often gridlocked roads might soon become easier.

Infrastructure Malta (IM) announced new plans to develop four new tunnels as well as the reconstruction of St Andrew’s Road to increase “safety and efficiency”, according to a statement

“The Pembroke – St Julian’s Connections is a new project extending from the Coast Road to Regional Road, before the Manwel Dimech Bridge and the northern portals of the Ta’ Giorni Tunnels,” IM said.

An application has been sent to the Planning Authority ahead of launching public consultations and approval of the big project, but here are five major takeaways you need to know before then.

1. Four new tunnels will be built

The longest of the four new tunnels will connect the southern end of the Coast Road (High Ridge area) to St George’s Bay.

This new 1.5-kilometre underground link will include two lanes, one in each direction. It will completely bypass the residential areas of Pembroke and Swieqi, providing “quicker” connections to the Paceville and St Julian’s seafront areas from the northern parts of Malta.

“This new infrastructure will improve public access to several areas in and around Paceville and St Julian’s, and not to specific developments only,” IM said.

20190504 Impr Pembroke St Julians Connections 2

2. The project will reach as far as the Coast Road, which will see several traffic lights removed

“This project includes the reconstruction of St Andrew’s Road and part of the Coast Road in a new four-lane design, to eliminate several traffic lights junctions and other bottlenecks along this route, as well as four new tunnels to facilitate safer and quicker access to and from Pembroke, Paceville, St Julian’s and Swieqi,” they continued.

3. A 500-metre one-lane tunnel will link the northbound carriageway of Regional Road – before reaching the Paceville traffic lights junction – to Pembroke

“The third tunnel will connect the same carriageway of Regional Road to St George’s Bay, to provide a safer and quicker alternative to the existing Paceville traffic lights junction. A fourth, 115-metre underground connection will start at Church Street (Millenium Chapel area) and exit at Spinola Bay (St George’s Road), creating a new exit from Paceville whilst reducing congestion difficulties in several nearby adjoining roads and junctions,” IM said.

20190504 Impr Pembroke St Julians Connections 1

4. Another tunnel will connect Olive Street, in The Gardens area of St Julian’s, and Regional Road’s southbound carriageway, just before the Manwel Dimech Bridge

“This new link will make it easier for residents in this area to travel to and from their their homes without having to use the Paceville or Spinola junctions, which are being upgraded as well,” they said.

5. St Andrew’s Road is set to undergo a major redevelopment

“An important element of this investment is the reconstruction of St Andrew’s Road and the southern end of the Coast Road, to eliminate several parts of this TEN-T road corridor that currently narrow down to one lane in each direction. The Pembroke-St Julian’s Connections project will widen these roads to four lanes, whilst eliminating a number of bottlenecks, including the optimisation of the Paceville junction, the Pembroke T-junction with Walter Ganado Street and the Swieqi priority intersection opposite the Luxol Grounds,” MI said.

“These upgrades will lead to significant travel time reductions in this arterial road corridor, whilst reducing accident risks and congestion pollution in several nearby residential roads, particularly in Pembroke and St Julian’s.”

Whilst the Pembroke-St Julian’s Connections plans will be made publicly available by the Planning Authority as part of the permitting process launched on Friday, an outline design of the four tunnel routes and the main upgrades being proposed is available on Infrastructure Malta’s Facebook Page – fb.me/infrastructuremalta.

For more information or for assistance, contact Infrastructure Malta on 2334 1000, [email protected] or via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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READ NEXT: ‘Record-Breaking’ Number Of People Sent Submissions To Planning Authority Over The Pembroke Proposal

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]

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