Valletta | Jammed in the City

The City Gate project has seen the commencement of works to embellish Valletta, however while works are in progress, commuters are inconvenienced by longer waiting times, which increase congestion.

According to data collected by the CVA system, traffic in Valletta is at its peak between 8.15am and 9.15am in the morning and between 5.00pm and 6.00pm in the evening.

At rush hour in the morning, queues to get into Valletta begin just outside Portes des Bombes and run along Triq Sant Anna in Floriana right up to the roundabout where cars can continue on onto Triq Girolmu Cassar (heading towards Castille), turn left to go to the Mall junction, or continue round the roundabout to go to the waterfront.

Traffic going into MCP car park has been redirected and the car park is currently accessible through the road leading to the bus terminus causing more traffic as patrons of the car park cross the lane of traffic coming off the Mall junction.

Traffic on the Mall Junction is the result of a number of factors, with queues on the Great Siege road (the ring road) going down to the Excelsior Hotel. Plastic barriers fill the wide, open space at the junction in an attempt to organise the chaos while Transport Malta officials are onsite to direct traffic in an attempt to ease congestion.

Other entrances to Valletta – namely St Mark’s Street and St Paul’s Street – remained relatively clear throughout the morning.

The demolition of City Gate, on the 2 May, is to redirect traffic entering Valletta as part of Pope Pius V road, which is currently supported by the City Gate itself, will be torn down along with City Gate, thus putting pressure on other entrances into the City.

Transport Malta discussed 21 different traffic scenarios in conjunction with the University of Florence, and tested them prior to the approval of the final strategy, whereby the direction of traffic flow in Archbishop Street will be changed with access to be permitted from Merchant’s Street.

Triq il-Lanca becomes one-way in the direction of Victoria Gate, and access to Jews’ Sally Port from lower Old Bakery Street will still be permitted.

Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli said that minor modifications had to be made to six junctions in Valletta and Floriana which, following the demolition of City Gate, will have a significant impact on traffic flow, and should reduce queues drastically.

The Park and Ride extension, which will accommodate 400 more vehicles, should reduce the number of vehicles seeking to enter the city.

Audrey Testaferrata from Transport Malta explained that models have been created to analyse the effects of permanent closing of Pope Pius V Street on the various junctions leading into and out of Valletta. Queues decreased significantly when modifications to junctions and directions of traffic flow are implemented as opposed to models taking into account the closure of Pope Pius V Street with no other interventions.