Transport Malta to propose widening Kennedy Grove road

The redevelopment of the stretch of the coast road between Salina and Bahar ic-Caghaq will turn the existing single carriageway in to a dual carriageway, but also usurp 15,000 square metres of agricultural land.

But Transport Malta has chosen the least negative of the two options that were considered for the redevelopment of this road, which can turn into a veritable nightmare for motorists when weekenders return from a Gozo break.

Presently the road between Salina and Bahar ic-Caghaq is a single carriageway, two-lane cross-section. The new scheme proposes a dual, two-lane carriageway, thereby almost doubling the width of the existing road coast road.

It is considered to be the most problematic from a traffic safety perspective, because Kennedy Grove forms an angled T-junction with the coast road, at a steep downgrade on the approach.

Access to the camping area is through an unpaved road opposite Kennedy Grove, with poor sight-lines, insufficient parking, and no turning facilities.  At this point the road is too narrow to provide turning land for right-turning vehicles into Bugibba or into the camping area.

The option chosen by Transport Malta will mean that good agricultural land in Burmarrad's tal-Erba' Imwiezeb area will be spared from development, after farmers had previously protested against this development.

The alternative involves widening of Kennedy Drive and the Salini road southwards of the carriageway, and deviating the road into the area known as Il-Gonna tal-Barbier.

Option A, the option discarded by TM, involved realigning Kennedy Drive southwards, which would have meant unifying Kennedy Grove with the camping area that is currently separated by the existing road. It would have also allowed for a straighter carriageway, and the introduction of cycle lanes.

Both options result in the loss of over 15,000m2 of agricultural land. But while Option A would have led to the isolation of certain fields, resulting in an estimated loss of approximately 7,000m2 of agricultural land, Option B will result in the loss of 4,000m2 of land through isolation.

Another reason for choosing Option B was that while most of the agricultural land lost in Option A is used for higher value crops, the bulk of land lost in Option B is used for very low-income crops. This would result in a greater potential loss of income to the local agricultural community.

Option A would have also resulted the in loss of much of the area of the salt marsh that borders Kennedy Grove.

But both options are considered to have a negative major impact on agriculture, with the impact from Option A being larger than that from Option B.