Kappara junction: EPD calls on MEPA to discard valley overpass option

MEPA's Environment Protection Directorate is calling on MEPA to choose Option A which involves  the widening of the already-existing road, which only encroaches in the scheduled valley in the immediate proximity of the current road and discard Option B2  which involves the creation of a completely new road parallel to Triq tas-Sliema, running through Wied Għollieqa.

This emerges from a report issued by the EPD reviewing the results of the Environment Impact Statement recently issued by Transport Malta.

The Environment Protection Directorate has expressed a clear preference to widening the existing road (Option A) instead of constructing an entirely new road, which would have more devastating impact on Wied Ghollieq valley  (Option B2).  Transport Malta has already signified its preference for the latter option.

Option B2 is more environmentally taxing and would destroy 8,800 square metres of land in the protected valley (1,750 square metres more than Option A).

The main disadvantage of the more environmentally friendly option is that the upper tier of the road would be virtually at eye-level with the villas and apartments to the west and east of Triq Mikiel Anton Vassalli respectively.

Option A is composed of two levels designed to provide better safety levels and an increased capacity for future traffic flows.

The north-to-south and south-to-north movements along Triq Mikiel Anton Vassalli will take place on the upper fully grade separated road, while all other movements would involve the use of a roundabout at the lower level.

Option B2 involves the replacement of the existing Kappara roundabout by a signalised priority junction (to the west of the junction) and a roundabout junction (to the east of the junction), which would be linked by an overpass over Triq Mikiel Anton Vassalli.

But while acknowledging that both options have a negative environmental impact the EPD has also rejected the 'zero option', which involves retaining the status quo, which is resulting in major

traffic congestion.

Both options will have a major impact on Kappara residents.

While Option A would affect a number of residences immediately abutting the existing north-bound arm of the Regional Road as a result of the proposed elevation of the existing road carriageway, option B would redirect the traffic flow considerably closer than the existing road to the residential areas along both the western (Kappara) and eastern (Gzira) arms of Triq tas-Sliema.

"The impact on residential areas would be significant for both Option A and Option B2, and that this should not be used as a determining factor in the selection of a preferred option".

Option B2 would also result in the shifting of noise and air pollution to other residential areas without significantly ameliorating those same impacts in those effected by the present road network,

This will widen the extent of residential areas affected by traffic-generated noise and air quality deterioration.

Both Option A and Option B2 would have significant major impacts on the Wied Għollieqa ecological area; however Option B2 would have a more significant impact than Option A on the integrity of Wied Għollieqa, including its ecology and landscape. Option B2 will also entail further encroachment onto an important green open gap that has survived urbanisation,

In addition to its slightly more extensive net footprint, Option B2 also involves the further fragmentation of surrounding land into isolated in between the road carriageways and completely detached from their surrounding environmental context, thus contributing to the overall considerable take-up of land at the expense of agricultural land, mature trees, and habitats of ecological value.

Option B2 also shifts the road verge closer to the valley bed, and this is expected to result in long-term intensification of disturbance to the valley and its ecology during both construction and operational phases, whereas the disturbance arising from Option A is expected to be limited to the construction phase.

The EPD concludes that Option A raises environmental concerns but can be considered favourably as the preferable option, in the context of the acknowledged need for an alternative junction design to improve traffic congestion in this area.

"Option B2 raises even greater environmental concerns, to the extent that this option cannot be considered favourably from an environmental point of view, as it would result in significantly higher negative impacts on the ecological integrity of the valley, whilst presenting no clear overall advantages over Option A in terms of noise emissions, air quality, impacts on residential areas, or other environmentally-relevant considerations".