Illum Survey: Traffic concerns at lowest level since October 2017

Between the finalisation of traffic projects and a wider shift to teleworking initiatives, traffic concerns are at its lowest levels since October 2017.

This was highlighted in a survey published today by our sister newspaper Illum, and commissioned by Infrastructure Malta.

According to the survey, the first of its kind carried out this year, only 13.8% of respondents held a negative perception of traffic in Malta, while 21.4% reacted positively.

However, the vast majority of respondents, at 64.6%, have neither a positive nor negative outlook on the subject.

Dissatisfaction was at its highest between June and August in 2018, with 55.2% expressing concern for traffic congestion.  In turn, positive perception was at its lowest towards the beginning of 2019 at only 3.6%.

This survey thus marked the first time since October 2017 where positive sentiment towards traffic outperformed the negative, by 7.6%.

Gozitans expressed the highest traffic concerns, with 36.3% responding negatively to the survey. While still a high figure, it’s an improvement from the 47.6% recorded in November 2020.

Naturally, those residing in Rabat, Dingli and Attard feel most satisfied with the traffic situation, likely due to the opening of the Central Link project in recent months.

This isn’t to say that the project hasn’t had its burden on residents, some of which have seen their neighbourhood turning into a main road because of the venture.

Those hailing from the Southern Harbour district expressed little dissatisfaction with the traffic situation, benefitting largely from infrastructural upgrades such as the Marsa Flyover project. In fact, only 3% of respondents from the region shared a negative sentiment on the topic.

While a strong majority throughout all age groups seemed to offer a neutral reaction to the topic, there are contrasts among different levels of educational attainment. Those with a post-secondary level of education were the most positive about transport at 29.4%, while 15.8% of respondents with a tertiary level of eduation held the most negative outlook on the situation.