‘Why Are Malta’s Pedestrians An Afterthought?’: Roadworks Raise Major Safety Concerns
Roadworks outside of St Julian’s have left pedestrians unable to walk safely along an onslaught of oncoming traffic.
Triq Sant’ Andrija – which is one of the busiest roads in Malta, has seen major construction work as part of improvements to the entire road network. The works have made zebra crossings meaningless, forcing pedestrians onto the road, close to zooming traffic.
Residents have attempted to reach out to Transport Malta and Infrastructure Malta. Some even date back to the start of December, but their requests are either ignored or not taken seriously.
A bad storm last November also caused the adjacent wall to collapse, rendering pedestrian access to the traffic light’s call button inaccessible.
Temporary lights were installed in an attempt to manage the oncoming traffic, but they remained offline.
One such passer-by even approached the officer on-site, but claimed that he was told to ‘go back to his country.’
“Not only is the main crossing not functioning, [but] the temporary crossing is not working. There are no pedestrian barriers to protect against the traffic to access the temporary crossing,” one source said.
“Why are pedestrians such an afterthought? The pavement leading up to the Red Cross has recently been dug up at roughly ten metre intervals but [has] not been back-filled or repaired. If someone trips they’ll end up [on] the road. Where is the common sense?”
In their reply, Infrastructure Malta confirmed that the ensuing roadworks were being carried out to develop a new network of stormwater pipelines, culverts and catchments. A means to alleviate long-standing flooding issues in Sant’ Andrija Road.
The road had to be closed off, temporarily, since one of the culverts needed to be built beneath the road.
“To ensure pedestrian safety during these works, contractors created a temporary footpath on the other side of the road, clearly demarcated with yellow markings and high-visibility bollards,” Infrastructure Malta wrote, in a statement.
“They also set up a temporary pelican crossing to replace the one that is currently unavailable due to the adjacent works. This temporary crossing is only a few metres away from the permanent one and directly linked to the temporary footpath.”
“Allegations that this temporary pelican crossing was switched off are untrue. It is regularly checked and has always been found to be working properly. In this regard, pedestrians are encouraged to follow the temporary footpath and use this crossing, which offers the exact same connections as the permanent one, including the nearby bus stop.”
Do you think the safety of pedestrians is taken for granted in Malta?