Updated: Kappara junction project approved

The planning authority this afternoon unanimously approved a new junction at Kappara. Robert Zerafa, the architect representing Transport Malta, said the junction, leading to the University, would help reduce the traffic congestion in the area. Presenting the project to the planning authority board this afternoon, Mr Zerafa said the junction was one of the worst bottlenecks in Malta and could not keep up with the volume of traffic passing in the morning and afternoon. It was estimated that around 6,000 vehicles passed at peak times leading to increased waiting time in traffic and travel time. In the new junction, the roundabout would remain the same with two flyover lanes cutting across. Traffic from one side of Regional Road to the other would pass over the roundabout. The Transport Authority presented a modified version of the option which had originally incorporated a second roundabout. This option, even in its original version, had been preferred by the authority's environment unit, which had slammed an alternative option that had eliminated the congested Kappara roundabout and replaced it with a more free-flowing route. This had included a new roundabout on the Gżira side of...